


Screw the Empire, my daughter asked me to leave the Dark side

by Redassomlk12



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Darth Vader Needs a Hug, Darth Vader teaches Leia in the Jedi-sith ways of the Force, Darth Vader tries his best, Darth Vader's A+ parenting, F/M, Force-Sensitive Leia Organa, Gen, Leia Organa Deserves Better, Leia Organa Needs a Hug, Leia wants to slam her head on the wall, Obi-wan is too old for Anakin's lightsaber pirouettes, Parent Darth Vader, Suitless Vader, The Emperor too, They Get Along, Vader wouldn't let her, almost all times, but he is hot again!, but he is prepared for it, but not prepared for Leia, even more not prepared for Father-daughter duo, eventually, in the good way, no beta we die like men, not really - Freeform, padme would be proud
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 94,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26330212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redassomlk12/pseuds/Redassomlk12
Summary: While walking his way to torture the Aldeeranian Rebel Princess, suddenly, the Force brought back his body of the Clone Wars. He's pure young vigor and all acrobatics again, and that would be cool if he hasn't forgotten how to walk properly, move his arms, and even breathe. Seeing the princess with no vision obstructions at his peak as Force-sensitive, Vader is faced with two choices; put back the damned mask and start to prepare a plan to kill the Emperor and possibly lose his daughter along the way... Or ran away with her on his arms in an effort to get her as far as possible from the old crook.Vader does his first act as a good dad.They have a lot of adventures, scream a lot with each other and Leia does her best to not bang her head on the wall.To Vader, he may leave the Dark Side because his unfairly adorable daughter asked him to.
Relationships: Leia Organa & Anakin Skywalker, Leia Organa & Darth Vader, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker(Past)
Comments: 189
Kudos: 282





	1. Leia wants her comm and Vader shouldn't hear the Force

Diplomatic mission, of course. That little _sleemo_ princess.  
  
Vader rolled his eyes when the princess kept such an obvious facade of the classic 'calm-but-no-so-friendly-senator' whilst saying how he was wrong and she has nothing to do with the Rebellion, but she couldn't hide anything from the Force that surrounds her! And, well... About an hour ago he was slashing egg-heads into tiny little pieces. Smoking little pieces... _having some fun_ , in fact, before following this exactly ship where the rebel that escaped him took the Death Star plans. And she has the audacity to try to fool him. But she hadn't any success, because he fooled her first!  
  
But, he needs answers on paper. Not everyone has the Force.  
  
Her stubbornness is an outstanding feature, but even the most tenacious rebel breaks like glass when it's him torturing their minds and pulling out memories, learning every secret, and making them regurgitate those secrets so well-hidden out either in tears or blood. Or both. He likes the last best.  
  
The Force hummed, thirsting for the incoming pain the princess would suffer in his hands. Strangely enough, the Force was singing louder and louder...  
  
... Perhaps the Force didn't particularly like the princess? Who knows.  
  
Dark satisfaction touched his pale tongue, chiseled by the smoke and heat of Mustafar—just the memory of the hellish place makes his skin tremble and thus his power increasing, the Force performing a chorus of anticipation when the door of the cell where the Princess of Alderaan is awaiting for her doom appeared a few meters ahead, soldiers guarding it.  
  
The two stormtroopers soon notice Vader coming all imposing in large steps and, with a salute, blaster to the chest, moved away from the door to make room for the Dark Lord of the Sith. They may be useless when it comes to shooting, but they still awe and respect for their superiors.  
  
As soon as his gloved hand was about to type the password on the panel next to the cell door, the Force nudged his side and made him stop.  
  
Underneath the mask, Vader delighted in the Force's response... That feeling... She was going to be exceptionally hard to break on the torture and give in easily was nothing but a joke. She was going to do everything in her reach to not give up her precious Rebellion, the Force practically shouted it at him. Definitely, Vader admitted she deserved the beautiful name of Leia... _Ley-ah_ , pronunciation; Le-i-a. The slave dancer who defied everything and everyone and remained strong in front of Jabba and death, and won at the end. A legend in Tatooine.  
  
But Vader didn't care about legends. She would resist like Ley-ah but, unlike her, she would perish and be destroyed be after or while on the torture.  
  
"Troopers." The sound of the modified, almost non-human voice resounded wall to wall, echoing and almost making both troopers jump. They were about to say something, but Vader cut them off. "Leave." it was a very strange one-word request, the stormtrooper on the left staring at the other, the engines of his mind spinning, searching for a way to understand the odd command. Vader's patience began to die when the 2-second mark was passed and the soldiers felt it on the spot and, with shaking greetings and not even a single word, left in disconcerted steps. With a dark dread in the back of their minds, the two soldiers noticed that this change of rank somehow just saved their trachea from an unpleasantly crushing magical squeezing.  
  
Vader could get a little carried away when the prisoners were extremely tenacious and he won't secure any safety for the unlucky troopers around him. The princess was going to be one of those.  
  
The Force was singing loudly when, opening the door with a metallic hiss, Vader slammed his bug-like eyes at the princess on the other side of the room, shrinking, thoughtful, not at all surprised... And yet, scared. His lenses full of yellow words and symbols and red-colored vision made it impossible to discern her facial features correctly— _but, oh_ ... The Force was screaming loud in anticipation. So, so loud.  
  
 _Loud..._  
  
... Too goddamn loud...  
 **  
Deafening.**  
  
All that was enough for Vader was a single step, the metal door rapidly closing behind him threateningly, the icy eyes of the princess, following him and her mind running to gather any grain of strength possible to resist the imminent torture and rising up that political face... And then... He trip.  
  
Face down on the ground.  
  
The Force was literally exploding inside his head. Before it was buzzing, then it was music, then it was screams, thirsting for pain and... then it was a noise, loud and incomprehensible. Now, however, it was the creaking of millions, millions of convex screams inside his head, ripping everything apart, destroying and shaking his nerves and flesh. But that's not what Vader was worrying about. He was used to constant headaches; screams full of pain and fear and hate, that is his usual day-to-day 'life'.  
  
Yet he was very, very far from feeling such a guttural need.  
  
That burning pain in your chest pleading to be soothed.  
  
The need to do for oneself… To do something that any human being does from the moment he leaves his mother's womb.  
  
Something he had forgot how to do because of the lack of need; his suit did it for him.  
  
Vader felt the need to manually… _breathe_.  
  
 **Leia**  
  
... It was too much.  
  
For the last two hours, all she's done is to gather her strength. Happy memories with her adoptive parents, missions with resounding success in the 20 years of an active Rebellion, games of her childhood in the Aldeeran gardens with her friends. Her mind was fortified using the strength of everything that and always involved happiness in her life. Everything to resist—to survive—the legendary torture methods of Darth Vader. How many times has she seen the results of the ways to forcefully gash out information from people's minds? They were constantly trying to commit suicide, eyes trembling, and full of fear that didn't even quiet themselves in their sleep, for it never came naturally. But... her whole body trembled at the thought of those people who simply broke. They did not speak, they did not eat, they did not move and they sometimes would stop to breathe in a heinous and terribly sad way to die... Shells of such a massive horror that their souls simply could no longer reside in their bodies.  
  
She did everything to keep herself in her best condition for when the Sith Lord arrived eventually. She would talk no word about the Rebellion... She would die before hope dies.  
  
... However, Leia underestimated him.  
  
Vader fell flat on his face, like a rock pushed by the wind. The thump was so inorganic and at the same time so unexpected. He came in at the peak of his confidence and menacing factor, his breathing filling the room with cold, a fearful song that announces the end of life itself.  
  
And then he hit the floor with his face.  
  
It took two seconds, with her eyebrows frowning, for Leia began to grin. No... She blasts off _laughing_.  
  
Her hands ran to her mouth, eyes tearing and her chest roaring in an uninvited, inhuman warmth. She laughed with everything in her lungs, the sound of the mechanized breathing coming from the black monolith on the background served as some kind of sick ironic noise as her laughter ricocheted off the walls. She wanted so much having her comm now, by the Force she wanted it. If she had recorded that and posted it in the _Holo-tok_ ... How many trillions of views would that video have got? How impacting would it be to see the Imperial Executioner, the Collarless Dog, the Jedi Slayer... to simply fall with everything on the ground? The imperial propaganda would try hard to censor everything about Vader's little accident, but it was going to be impossible. People would laugh right and left and, even this small blow on the Imperial kriffing supremacy would be a victor for the Rebellion.  
  
Her tummy hurt and she sneezed by accident. Oh, oh... she was going to die, for kriffing sure. She was absolutely sure that the moment Vader got up, he would grab her by the neck and break her spine. Maybe he was going to turn on his lightsaber and behead her right there? Her heart twisted in fear, but it was throbbed by her laughter. She couldn't stop... Laughter was going to be the last thing she would do in her life. It was going to be an interesting death.  
  
But her laughter died like a Porg being devoured by a Kryat Dragon. Quickly. In utter disbelief, she saw Vader... squirming on the ground, his hands running around his mask. He was looking for something there. Leia became periodically frozen as she watched him furiously groping his mask, fingers moving in a strange way... And his legs... They were spasmodic, completely disrespecting the rest of his body ... and...  
  
And his lightsaber was there. Shining... Vulnerable. Calling, pleading for her.  
  
Everything stopped. One moment and all those happy memories blinked in her mind.  
  
No... she wouldn't die laughing.  
  
Furious heat snapped inside Leia melting every bit of fear and, unscrupulously for her own integrity, she stood up and almost stumbled to the ground, eyes caught on the lightsaber. Grinding her teeth together, Leia grabbed the saber and tried to pull, but the hook stopped her. A mad rush roared all over her body. It was her chance! Maybe she would be the only person in the whole galaxy who would have that chance like this, handed over on a plate, just waiting to be taken.  
  
The chance to kill Darth Vader.  
  
Getting the lightsaber out of Vader's belt in a growl, Leia took a quick step back, almost as if leaning against the Sith Lord physically inflicted pain, her back hitting hard against the wall but she didn't give the slightest thought while sweat ran all over her body, a radiant smile in the back of her mind as she ignored anything else, the very air floating around her almost had weight. The smile turned once again into a hurry when she almost knocked over the lightsaber, arms moving to hold it like a water stick in the middle of Tatooine's endless desert.  
  
Hope shone when she finally found the power button, a red blade roaring to life. The crimson-hot blade, pungent with blood... Finally, it would meet its last strike.  
  
For the _Rebellion_ —  
  
For the _Jedi_ —  
  
For _Peace_ and _Democracy_ —  
  
For the people of the _Galaxy_ —  
  
— For all the **future** ... Leia would end the reign of this monster!  
  
With a war cry that she didn't know where came from and that, honestly, she didn't give a damn asking, Leia turned the symbolic weapon corrupted with blood in her hands at the same time that Vader managed to throw his mask across the room, it hitting the wall soundless. It was like a sledgehammer crushing a stone. Her eyes widened as her whole body was bathed with shivers, some kind of sick sigh trapped in her throat. Nothing more than only half of a second, but it was also enough for Vader's hand to throw itself all weird forward, almost in a reflection, and throw her violently to the other side of the room with a gust of air, her back cracking against the metal and a cry of pain as she glided all tender near where the threatening mask had landed, the lightsaber turning off as it slipped from her not-so-firm-but-very-determinate grip.  
  
Still... Leia's eyes were caught on Vader's face, the very image scorching in her mind.

Eyes as golden as the sunset sky of Alderaan, but full of flames and dripping sulfur so obscenely cruel that an unstoppable chill glued to her bones at the very moment she saw them, something deep within her mind screaming just a word; pain. His sun-kissed skin, a tone that could only be obtained with many years working under the heat of the Sun at the field, defined and strong looking muscles in his cheeks and chin, a thin bridge in his nose only completing the vision and, ah, blond threads waving all the way down to his shoulders and framing his head in a frightening amount... Darth Vader had the face of a young adult who was not beyond the age of 25, and unexpectedly handsome. But... He was almost the same age as her. At the present time, under Leia's totally out-of-sorts gaze, Vader was suffering to pull long, uncompromising breaths, coughing non-stop, and trying to lean against the ground, only to slip, trembling arms and legs that didn't move straight.

The Imperial Executioner…

The Collarless mad dog…

The Emperor's heir, Lord Sith, and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet…

The assassin of the Jedi Order who ended the Clone Wars within one night 20 years prior...

_He was no older than she was._

And again, all Leia could do was let out two, three seconds of pure laughter, almost choking in the blood that was rising on her throat before she fainted completely, her back roaring in pain and her whole body burning in agony by the blow so hard against the wall of her cell. Her last thought is how much she wanted to have her comm right now.  
  
  
  
  



	2. Vader goes from full Dark Lord to mama bear to Dark mama bear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support in the first chapter!

He had hair in his mouth.

_Hair._

Vader had the hair that magically appeared entering in the way of his respirator, mouth, and eyes. The extreme irritation came as he dropped face down on the ground, the desire to spit that kriffing hair out and cough was literally killing him; the mask prevented it and, for the matter of fact, the air leaving his body joined the tears escaping from the sides of his Sith eyes-tears, he could cry... And lungs... He feels his lungs-he should feel good about those things, but to die asphyxiated in his own strands would be shameful. For kriffing sure Darth Revan, Bane, Tyrannus, and even Maul would laugh at him in the Sith hell. A Sith dying because of hair. Ignoring the princess loud laughter completely, Vader began to fetch the manual locks on his mask.

It was at this moment that he felt an utter wave of danger in the Force. The princess tried to pull out his lightsaber and, in a completely new feeling of dread, Vader realized that if he couldn't do something, he would die at the princess's hands. That would indeed be a motive of mockery in the Sith hell.

His spasmodic legs stopped any tries from moving and both his arms were strange. The right one is made of metal still, but it wasn't the same prosthesis he used to... use... until a minute ago. And his left one is made of flesh.

With the Force blasting in hurry, Vader managed to ferociously sling off his helmet and mask, throwing both away and swinging his metal hand in the direction of the princess, the thing wobbling like a Dathomirian macaroni, but the Force running through his body felt like an angry ocean, even frightening Vader himself. Vader is extremely powerful in the Force, that was a known fact… But this power within him that suddenly arose. This was beyond anything he ever wielded before.

The princess crashed against the wall in satisfying sounds of bone cracks, his lightsaber flying away. Now, with no more hair in his mouth and obstructions on his path, Vader had to start manually breathing.

Inwards, outwards, rinse and repeat... At first, he almost choked with the alien sensation of air entering him with no help from cables. It was too hard to remember and perform manual breathing properly, but as the seconds passed, both arms straight and hands on the ground, Vader manages to breathe like a normal human being, but superficially. His mouth hurt... Like he didn't have a drop of water for the past 20 years. His stomach longed for food and his suit was very, very tight and uncomfortable. More than before...

_Much, much more..._

It was always like that, but there was something else now; the suit was no longer keeping him alive. He could breathe for himself, he could drink the air, feel the moisture against his skin—sweat! His skin can sweat again!—and the remaining tears, all the tingling extension of his lower body. He could feel everything once more!

Each thought only made the suit more and more claustrophobic. Ranging his teeth, Vader tried to pull the panel off his chest, sliding to the ground when both hands failed. He had forgotten how to use flesh fingers and his prosthetic hand was totally improved for combat, unlike his previous one which emphasized pain. Growling loudly at the extremely uncomfortable sensation, Vader let out a cry of agony and, engulfing in the ocean of Force, blew his suit from the inside out. Metal flew at high speed all over the cell, hitting the metal and bending the durasteel. Strangely, every piece missed the princess, but Vader didn't notice that.

A long gasp brought calm to his aching body, no real blood leaving his system as he watched the undergarment of the suit, the dark pieces of Neimoidian fiber which prevented the suit from being something bad into something impossible unbearable.

There should be blood jumping all over him, especially from the parts in his neck where holes for food and breathing were made by IV... But there was none. Carefully, he moved his trembling metal hand all the way up to his neck, his fingers smoothing the stiff, warm skin around the throat. No IV, no holes, no crusty scars...

He felt the warmth of his body from the very top to the end, the cold extension of the ground against his bent knees, the erect chest rising and falling with every drop of air feeding his lungs through his nose.

It was the most obvious, but something had happened to him... The Force brought all that he had lost on Mustafar's shores in his miserable defeat against Obi-wan...

_Obi-wan..._

**... Obi-wan...**

The glee in his eyes shone a sulfuric gold and an omen weighted in the Force as a dreadful silence, Vader held a half-smile of pure venom. Everything from before came back to him... even his force bonds.

He could feel Obi-wan, feeble, and old somewhere across the stars. He could feel Yoda, once a stronghold of the Force, now over in some dump in the unknown deeps far of the Outer Rim. He even could feel… Ahsoka. And no doubt they could feel him too, the firm bond of Master and Apprentice hundreds of times stronger than the bond made out of awe he had once for Yoda, but the three of them tainted in his darkness. How scared they were when they sensed his power beyond the count, immeasurable in the Force? If Vader was once powerful in the Force, now he's completely unstoppable. There's nothing in the galaxy that could grant the idea to stop him! He could destroy the Death Star piece by piece, without even sweat! He may depart right now to the Imperial Center, challenge Sidious, and take his throne from their cold, twisted fingers! He will rule the galaxy, he will shape it as he desires! He will be the God he was born to be and he will follow those bonds and as the most powerful Sith Lord to ever exist he will unleash cleanse to the galaxy and—

And then his smile was lost.

So… _Tiny_ ... A very small ember, hidden from the world, protecting itself in fear, in pain, almost unnoticed by him... But when he felt the blaze, his own mind stopped. Padmé. A cold wave ran all over his surface like a bucket of water when he followed Padmé's warmth, her Force signature was so fragile but extremely present in the very air itself, a new center of anxiety on the back of his head. His eyes immediately caught on the princess and the disbelief of this situation only increased a few good degrees. Why in the name of the nine _Corellian_ hells he could feel Padmé in Lei—

_"You're having a little girl. I can feel it."_

His legs couldn't move properly but, unconsciously, his knees dragged Vader's body to where the princess was lying. He didn't notice his bulging gaze, the slightly open mouth, the frowning forehead, the cold sweat on his forehead, or the shaken of his fingers. All his focus was caught in Leia, the growing chock numbing his mind to a point where the other senses besides glance disappeared in the air.

_"Legends of Tatooine? Well, one of my favorites is that of a Dancer..."_

The voice so youthful, but hardened by battle, echoed in his head. It was the voice of a weak man who was killed long ago. But Vader did not stop to think about it. He didn't stop to think about how his knees were hurting as he dragged them faster and faster to the princess. There's something in her... Something he was too blind, too weary to see before. He wants to see it now that he have once again his young eyes.

_"Ley-ah, that was her name. A woman of incomparable mental strength who, even in front of Jabba, managed to escape slavery and live a dignified life... My mother used to love this tale"._

With an impulse of haste, he advanced on the princess, all clumsy and almost falling on her, his right hand flying to the wall and preventing it from happening. His legs straightened and, with his heart beating powerfully inside his chest, Vader's hands almost brushing her face leaned against the wall, unconscious because of him...

_"It's a beautiful name; Leia..."_

He hesitated. His wife's sweetest voice that she used only for their shared moments, moments of undeniable happiness. A voice he hears all time covered in layer above layer of ice when he meditates, using the longing and sadness as fuel for his hatred and thus his power. Padmé's voice, however, was warm now, a heat so abrasive that he never thought he would feel again, completely opposite to Mustafar's molten sand.

_"Yes... maybe we should use it for our little girl..."_

" _Ley-ah_..." his voice scared him, the lost and so old Huttese accent all over the place. His voice wasn't mechanized, dark and full of grandeur anymore. It was low, afraid, and unpleasantly human. The Force swung around him as hesitation passed, both hands holding Leia's face and lifting it with supernatural care, care he would have had reserved only for Padmé. The moment his flesh hand touched her, even covered with black leather, Vader could see and feel. The softness but firmness and the beauty... all of it.

His golden eyes stared at her face, the thin hair drawn to a fashioned but odd hairstyle between his ravenous fingers. Vader didn't notice the immense smile that went up in his face. Her hair was silky and a chocolate brown color, just a bit darker than Padmé's.

"Leia." Now his voice came out in the basic accent, the flesh hand's thumb, still shaking, slipping down Leia's cheek. It was there... There was so much of Padmé in her, how could he have missed it?! He looked straight in her face before, he saw her political facade, exactly like Padmé's! It was in every corner of her face, every little detail. And still, when he looked at her sharpest nose, her firmest chin and, besides the girl's so small constitution, a will to fight that went beyond any fear, an immense raw power, physical and in the Force... He saw him too. Leia, daughter of Padmé.

_His daughter._

And then, **blood** escaped from her mouth.

It was like the flip of a switch. Suddenly, all those thoughts about usurping the throne, being a god and all the babbling... They all sounded meaningless. That warm feeling inside Vader, the tears that threatened to escape from behind his eyes, and the memories of his wife's smile; they have all swept away from him like sand in the wind. A volcano of worry exploded inside his mind and without thinking about himself or showing any grain of hesitation, Vader took both hands down on Leia, trying to get her off the ground and lift her into his arms... But he fell the moment he tried.

With a loud grunt not of pain but of concern, Vader managed to stop Leia from hurting herself any further, her mouth opening as he moved her to come fully above his body and a flurry of blood piling up in his black clothes. Cold. There was that cold again and this time so many times more intense. He had hurt her... He did this to her.

Voices started to devour out his mind, and he used the pain, the disgrace, and the massive misery that the little thought brought to suck power from the Force. His head turned and the walls trembled when, using the Force, he took control of himself and moved like a puppet. Sometimes he was forced to do similar things when he had tired out of the 70 kilos(154lbs) suit laying on his broken body like a coffin... But never in such a powerful intensity as to crack the ground and shake everything—but he couldn't care the least.

On the second attempt, he lifted himself and Leia from the floor, her head falling against his chest and staining the black tissue with blood. By force, she had the weight of two feathers, fragile as a youngling... If he makes the slightest mistake, he could hurt her again with ease.

A single piece of information was painted on his mind besides Leia; the Infirmary Ward.

As numb withered his limbs, Vader made his destructive way out of the room, a Force Push hurling the door off its axis and sending it flying to the other wall of the hall. Quick steps were taken as the Dark Lord of the Sith passed through the corridors, his heart crushed inside his chest beating so violently that his newly acquired lungs commencing burn again. Manually breath became a monumental task for more than a few seconds, all the tension flooding his body. But he could not stop now. Not to get back his breath, nor to think straight; nothing. Leia was bleeding from her mouth in his arms and her ribs shouldn't feel like jelly-filled Nubian bread... and if he took too long. If he's too late...

If he took too long just after he discovered his long lost daughter...

He swears, he will take the Death Star to the Imperial Center and _explode_ the city-planet without a second thought. Life now has meaning. After 20 years of pure agony and coldness, of following a path he knew would end in death and destruction, a path he thought he liked, now life paints promises and hopes ahead of him he had on the times his wife walked and fought for a better galaxy. But a path where Leia is by his side... How many things could they do together? Father and daughter?! They could change the entire galaxy to their liking! His dream could be realized, Padmé's dream could be realized! Leia would learn the way of the Sith and, together, they will bring peace and prosperity under their new Empire!

Yet if Leia died... then the whole universe that gave him that chance deserved to die together. He would not suffer at the hands of the Force. Not again.

Danger permeated the air out of the blue and, moving into a corner, blaster shots passed centimeters of him and his daughter.

"The Level-1 Rebel is being rescued, AA-23! Communicate with the central computer!" one of the troopers shouted at the other, his blaster raised and firing at Vader. Vader's corrosive cold was accompanied by a frightening thought... He no longer had the mask; he looked too young; he did not have the armor.

He... was no longer Darth Vader, not in appearance.

This cold lasted only a moment before, knocking his teeth in fury, Vader left the corner. The Force crossed the corridors in a terrible, powerful gust, sending the trooper flying, his back breaking against the wall.

"J-Jedi!" the other stormtrooper couldn't even finish his movement of looking at his comrade body against the wall before, with a morbid crack, his head spun completely on the spine axis, the helmet not following all the way. He fell with a deaf thump as Vader stepped on him and didn't even spare a look, continuing his path towards the Medical Ward. Quickly, Vader pulled with the Force his comm strapped to the waist.

... His belt flew with the rest of his armor.

_Kriff._

His hurry multiplied by ten and so did his anger. He would have to go to the AA-23 block Command Center in case he wanted to use his special authorization to lock up the sector and stop the attack at Leia and him. The Force roared louder and louder as Vader accelerated his pace, more and more troopers appearing on the way, all killed by the unanimous power of the Force. It didn't take long for loud sirens to echo everywhere and some attempts to trap him in the corridors to happen. They tried to lower fortified doors, but Vader's Force, more powerful and bubbling than ever, prevented them from continuing to the end and slammed the metal back, destroying all of the insides of it. Gases had the tubes from which they came squeezed out. If they tried to take the air out of it, he used the Force around him and created an air bubble.

He was never as powerful as he is now. But the power didn't matter.

Just... Leia.

They tried to surround the Command Center door, but Vader blew it up and, as he entered, he raised both hands and red thunders spread all over the room, flooding the twelve soldiers with massive electric currents of the Force, any lost blaster shot bouncing on the Force Shield he had raised.

Force Lightning. If he used it alongside his suit, he would fry from the inside out... But the sensation of thunder leaving his flesh fingers dripping in pure Dark Side power made him understand why it was his master's favorite technique.

Walking to the Central Computer, Vader entered his access codes quickly, the Force warning him in a hurry—he must be quicker. For Leia...

He quickly passed at all his possibilities; the whole Death Star was on full alert. Someone invaded it and took one of the most important prisoners from her cell by a supposed dead Jedi and Lord Vader is silent and supposedly disappeared... Even if he tried to communicate the Bridge, they would say he couldn't be Vader. A drop of sweat ran on his forehead as his mind moved to Sidious...

There was no way that the old man did not feel the change in his apprentice. He knew that Vader was more powerful than ever, a supernova raging in the Force, and he probably knew that he is a young adult once again.

And... Glancing at the hidden security cameras in the corner of the room—he tried to destroy them all, but being divided between killing the troopers, keeping controlling his limps, breathing, and keeping a watch on every possible trap, he missed several of them on the way—he knew he had no choice. Quickly giving orders, he moved several medical droids to one of the shuttles in the hangar of this sector, narrow orders to get as many medical supplies as possible, and to leave the ship ready for departure.

The order was given and, taking a deep breath and sparing another look at his daughter, his flesh hand—the leather exploded when he used the Force Lighting—touching her facial skin, the contact sending shivers through his body. Swinging the head and killing the little numbness inside it, Vader began to move, a lost thought passing through his mind as he imagined the appetizing news that all of Holo-news would transmit for days to come when inevitably these images of him with Leia escape Sidious's calloused hands. All it requires is one soldier to record the camera screen with his comm, or some slicer to get lucky and steal those images from some imperial database.

_"Anakin Skywalker is alive and is a Rebel."_

The chaos across the galaxy was going to be absolute... But that does not matter.

Some other drops of blood escaped from Leia's mouth and nose, her body becoming colder and colder in his arms. His throat tried to swallow the wall of ice that these notions caused, his command of the Force ate every ounce of sadness, haste, and fear.

The path to the hangar was the same as before, only now the stormtroopers were taking much more cover—and wasting his precious time—Vader's patience was on fire, and without caring, he cautiously moved his daughter to his back, holding her with the Force there, her arms firmly around his neck. His eyes were shining with great ire as his right hand rose to one of the durasteel pipes of the corridor ceiling, the heavy fire of at least eight troopers bothering him. The pipe flew to his hand, fortified with the Force and, without mercy, Vader advanced.

It was not a lightsaber but served just as well.

Shots were reflected, any trooper who was too close found the end of the pipe and was thrown to the ground with its face armor shattered.

Finally, the hangar appeared in sight, the door sent flying away with the Force. Troopers had been moved from there, so his eyes caught immediately on three medical droids carrying supplies to a Gamma-class Assault Shuttle.

"Droids!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the hangar empowered by the Force. The three droids stared in utmost surprise at him and, in large steps, Vader was already in front of one. Without even waiting for the droid to say anything, he put his metal finger on the droid's chassis and shouted at the top of his lungs. "You will save the life of my child, or I will end all of you!" was an order, loud and clear.

"Lord Vader... By the Galactic Standard Age, I must say that this woman is not a child—"

"She is a _child_ for me! And don't waste one more second, droid!" the threat was palpable in the air and, shaking in his metal feet, the medical droid said.

"O-Of course, Lord Vader. Get the Levi-stretcher and start the diagnose!"

Holus-bolus, the Force whistled around Vader and he knocked his teeth out.

"Speed up!" Turning and protecting Leia with his body, Vader lifted the 'lightpipe' and watched as troopers stormed through the door he had so far exploded, all aiming at the extremely dangerous Jedi, hitherto dead for over 20 years by the name of Anakin Skywalker. Blaster shots came fast, more and more stormtroopers appearing by the second, screams of droids coming from inside the ship. Vader did his best by spinning the lightpipe with an extremely embarrassing Soresu form, Vader having to rely entirely on the Force. He is sure Obi-wan would have a seizure watching the clunky mess as he deflects the bolts. For the Force, a _Separatist battle droid_ would have more grace than him!

He was quickly finding himself worn out. He had a lot of power, yes, but even his young body has its limits. Breath was still weird, his legs of flesh and bone were massive barriers in his movements, his arms were all wobbly and this whole damn situation was making every foundation of him crumble.

Between a flurry of gunshots, one droid finally came back with a stretcher, and, without waiting another moment, Vader pulled all the darkness inside him, the lightpipe falling out of his hand, time itself heavier than before. His wife's betrayal that hurts so much for, to this day, he loves her deeply. The betrayal of Obi-wan who took everything from him. Sidious, the slavery, the Jedi Order, the Republic, his mother, these 20 years of agony. The Force darkened so much that it could even be seen permeating the air... Unseen for him, all the darkness was also tempered with the desperate desire to keep his daughter safe.

All the accumulated feelings exploded from his insides when he raised both hands forward, the storm of red thunder flooding the air towards the door where the troopers were. His ears buzzed and his prosthesis began to disintegrate with the full power of the Force Storm. Men simmered, their skin melted and their blood evaporated in electricity, the metal walls twisting and falling into the own beams that held them.

It lasted a few moments, but the destruction was massive.

In the end, Vader fell directly to the ground, feeling his daughter's Force signature move quickly away on the stretcher to the Medical Wing inside the ship. It was difficult, but he gathered what was left of the Force to get up and enter the ship, advancing to the controls. He couldn't let himself down; the end hadn't come yet... Until he entered the blue whirlwinds of hyperspace, Leia would still be in danger.

Quickly, Vader started the ship's turbines, the Force warning him to be quick. The engines roared to life, and the ship lifted inches from the ground. With his quivering hands on the steering wheel, Vader cranked the speed to the maximum right of the bat.

The moment he left the hangar, he was being shot at by the Death Star's defenses. If he wasn't the best pilot of this galaxy and the next, he would have died as fast as anyone can spell kriff.

The ship's shields swayed as shots passed by, the signature echoes of the TIE fighters in the vacuum horizon of space, getting closer as he outmaneuvers around the torrent defenses of the Death Star. The hyperspace engines were warming up, the planet's coordinates he chose on the fly computing and seeking the best route that wouldn't blast him on a star, another planet, or a black hole.

The Force was beeping of imminent danger as Vader rotated and the shields deflected, shots ricocheting off the shields that were about to fall. A big bump at the far end of the ship made his teeth grizzle against each other. He was getting out of time...

Memories of Leia bleeding flooded his mind and Vader had to power through the pain when maneuvers even more complicated were necessary.

And the second the coordinates were ready on the computer ship, Vader tried to push the lever to enter in hyperspace, but a sudden shake hurling him to the ground and landing the last blow that destroyed his prosthetic arm. Groaning against the ground, Vader ignored all the pain, his last resort of strength to push the lever with the Force, immediately entering hyperspace.

At last, Leia is _safe_...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, English has some strange words. Holus-bolus, hitherto... Anyway, I'm trying to improve my vocabulary, so if I mess up -- what is the most likely -- sorry.  
> There's just something about protective-mama-bear Vader that gets to me every time.  
> Next time, we are heading to some heated argument between those two!  
> Thank you for your time!


	3. Leia thinks the Dark Side is very cringe and Vader doesn't appreciate it

**Oh...**

Everything hurts. From top to bottom, everything _kriffing_ hurts...

Beating her lips in acute agony, Leia opened her eyes after a worn sigh. One of her hands landed on her forehead; it was hot and the lights from the ceiling were blinding her pupils as kriff. The burning in her eyes made her growl softly. Blinking consecutively and performing breathing techniques, she tried to remember where she was, but all she got were some flashes passing through her head; an amalgam of images, all blurred and confused. She saw constant black shadows, strong lights, incandescent reds...

As fast as they came they went and, finally, Leia had a half clear vision of where she was; some Medical Wing. White walls, white ceiling, white floor... And an unbearable smell of medicine that made her want to cry.

"Kriff... My head." With a groan, her fingers tightened around her forehead, leaning her back and sinking on the pillow.

The main area that hurts the most in her whole body was the top of her back and her neck and, well, she was too sore in one of those areas to turn her head and assess the damage herself. Not that she needed it since, perhaps listening to her voice, a medical droid came walking from somewhere in the room towards her.

"I see you are finally awake. How do you feel, patient _0-0002_?" The droid's mechanical voice buzzed in her ear and she wanted to complain and push him away and so have some rest, but she knew the latency was temporary and would soon disappear.

"Like sithsplit..."

"The damage you received was indeed worrying, but your recovery was miraculously quick. Four of your ribs broke and one punctured the base of your diaphragm. Internal bleeding, tissue recovery, bone re-location, and..." she knows what he is saying is important. It was her health, after all. But there were so many terms and her head was still waking up that she stopped listening after he said "diaphragm". Anyway, the droid continued until there was a slight silence moments later. Not knowing how to answer properly, Leia spoke the first thing that came to her mind.

"Thank you for taking care of me." It was dry. But, anyway, who would thank a droid?

"Would you like anything?" The droid said that while moving to the computer next to the stretcher and started hitting the buttons. She couldn't see the screen.

"Where are we?" finally not feeling like a full pack of bantha poodoo, she slowly moved her neck around the room. White things, mechanical things, doors... That's what she expected from a damn Medical Wing... Except for the pile of black clothes on one of the tables. Is that... A cape?

"In the Mustafar System. Would you like the specific coordinates or..." she didn't hear the droid talking, a cold running through her body.

_Imperial Territory... Kriff._

Her head throbbed when she vaguely remembered what she was doing before coming... here, whatever this place is. Something with Rogue One, then she was aboard of the _Tantive IV_ and the **Death Star** plans—

The Kriffing **Death Star...** Kriff, kriff, kriffing sithsplit vaping carckig and a bunch of other cuss words her mother wouldn't want her to speak.

"Droid!" she caught the attention of the medical droid, who stopped talking immediately. "How long have I been off?" she hoped it wasn't too much.

"About 5 standard days."

"5 kriffing standard days!" she repeated, her forehead hitting her hand. Of course she would be out for 5 days. She groaned in pain for a moment, all the implications of being off for that amount of time beginning to spin in her mind. She is in Imperial territory, out for 5 days at one of the most important points in the history of the Rebellion... She has to start moving as fast as possible to recover the lost action. "What is your number, droid?"

"I'm afraid I don't have one." That confused Leia. "The Creator addresses us only by "droid"."

"Okay, so, where is this 'Creator'?" she hoped her haste had not been apparent. If she's right, she was moved to an Imperial prison in Mustafar. Why was she receiving medical treatment in the Medical Wing? She has no idea. Doesn't sound like something the Empire would do to a prisoner.

"He is currently undergoing physiotherapeutic exercise to recover the proper movement of his limbs."

That... sounded familiar to her. She felt something in the back of her mind... some kind of nudge. She did not understand and, for the sake of speed, ignored it. Regardless of the state of this 'Creator', she needed to have a conversation with him.

"So take me to him, I'm ordering you!" Striving and grunting, Leia got up from the bed and stood still on the floor, legs wobbly a little, but it was manageable. Everything about her was pure lethargy. It didn't stop her, although it was bothering her way too much and made her head hurt non-stop.

"Before that, I have a question for you. The 'Creator' addressed you by two names; could you pick one for us droids to refer to you?"

"Speak up, then!" she was already starting to get angry at the droid... Strangely enough, she was really angry, uncanny anger... and natural, in a way. Naturally, she had patience with droids—she put up with Threepio for 20 years—but for some reason... she was feeling really inclined to anger. It must be the effect of lethargy, probably.

"Your father, the Creator, referred to you as his daughter and Princess Leia. Do you prefer droids to refer to you like Princess Leia or Miss Vader?"

_**...**_ _**Huh?** _

* * *

He felt it. She is coming… and she is burning. A blind rage growled in the Force along with a tamed pain. It wasn't that latent pain she felt as she agonized in bed, half-awake, and with no sense of reality as he induced her into a healing trance using the Dark Side of the Force, but pain nevertheless. For someone with so little training in the Force, she should've shouted her lungs out and struggled against his darkness, but she accepted his influence and went into the trance without any hesitation… His daughter. She fills him with _pride_.

A wave of haste arose in Vader as he tried to get up off the ground and grab the banister. His daughter is coming here in fury and how was he? Lying on the ground after failing to walk properly. He couldn't shame himself in front of his daughter— _not again._

It took him a few tries, but Vader finally managed to grab the metal handrail and stand up, legs apart and arms together and chin up, his usual imposing pose; in the nick of time. A few moments later and Leia opened the metal door with might, eyes searching for him, her anger bubbling up in the Force when her chocolate eyes caught on him. Imposing her own stance and looking him straight in the eye, she said with a great load of despise in her voice.

" _Vader._ "

"Daughter of mine." Her reaction was first wide-eyed, then teeth knocking, clenched fists, and an attitude towards violence. Vader disliked it... Yes, these kinds of feelings are what harness power from the Dark Side; but, if she gave herself so easily to the Dark Side, without resisting or fighting... He had to correct this flaw in her, and he would do it eventually.

"I am not your daughter, nerfherder!" she shouted, exasperated while fulminating Vader with her eyes, a brown laminated with gold; exactly like Padmé's eyes. Behind her, a droid seemed really upset, trying to get her attention. Vader stared her firmly in the eyes, in silence. "I don't know how I got here, or why you have the crazy idea that I'm your daughter, but I want answers, Vader! And you will give me them!" she pointed menacingly in his direction, something like a threat hidden in her words... So hidden she didn't even notice it herself.

He felt a spark of anger rise within his mind, but it was soon erased. His daughter was just confused. Stolen from her mother and father at birth, raised with lies and fighting for falsehoods. But he was going to go through the effort to bring her to his side, to make her see the truth of her lineage and her legacy. After these thoughts, came the absolute pride. She acted with strength, feet on the ground, facing him in the eyes, the same strong attitude of her mother as Senator mixed with Vader's cold aggressiveness that made men tremble at their bases. She is perfect. She is his daughter and Padmé's in every aspect.

"And I will gladly give them to you, daughter of mine." His voice without the vocoder still sounded strange to him, but he ignored it. She frowned and pouted in his direction, exactly like Padmé when she got irritated.

"Don't call me that!"

"A father has every right to call his daughter—"

"I am not your daughter!" she fought back with a cry.

"You are. You are my daughter and I am your father." his tone was slowly increasing, trying to exacerbate the finality he was looking for.

"How is that even possible?!" when Vader didn't hit back at first, a strange look in his eyes that sounded almost like disbelief, Leia could only get more irritated. Yes, it all hurts when she speaks, but she didn't care because the rage was flooding her completely. It intoxicated her, made her body burn, and numbed the pain... It made her feel as if she could face the monster that was Darth Vader and win undoubtedly. "Say it! How is it possible that I am your daughter, Vader?! Answer me!" her voice... left Vader blushed?! It was only for a moment, but she swore she saw red on his cheeks.

"You... really don't know?" he asked and, oh, if Leia had a blaster right now... 

"Yes, I don't! Answer me, Vader!" he stayed wordless for a moment, pondering something. That red of before came back and apparently discomforted, Vader started to speak.

"I didn't imagine I would need this sort of conversation... But..." he stopped, coughing in his hand before continuing. "When a _man_ and a _woman_ are in love, they do things together… and… and one of those things—" Vader stopped talking, frightened by his daughter's reaction when she simply tapped her hand on her forehead and pulled her whole palm across her face, stretching her cheeks and growling loudly afterward, her hand returning to her forehead as she shook her head in denial. "What?"

"You laser head, that's not what I asked!"

"You asked how this was possible. Among humans, this is a natural way—"

"I know what sex is, Vader!" she screamed back, the stiff posture and the anger boiling inside her as such of animosity almost frightening him... A power he though only his wife owned. Vader really tried to explain to her how sex works?... Worse, he tried to explain like she was eight years old.

" _Oh..._ " that's all the reaction the blond had.

"Look… You're what? 22, 21?" after long breaths and uncomfortable silence, she asked 'calmer'. It was not possible that he had more than 25.

"I am now 42 years old, daughter of mine".

Leia did not answer, facing him profusely. He was teasing, mocking her. Kriffing Darth Vader was kidding with her. Feeling that she didn't believe him, Vader realized that he would have to explain it in words; couldn't she see the truth in his words through the Force? Was she so lesser trained than he first had thought? The way she protected herself, he thought at least some training in the Force she had.

"This body you see is my young adult body, the one I had during the Clone Wars 20 years ago." With slow steps and empowered by the Force, Vader walked to one of the tables in the small gym he used for his physical therapy. Taking one of the chairs, he waited for Leia to take the other... She stared at him for another moment and, finally, walked cautiously to the other chair on the far end of the table. As soon as she sat down, Vader spoke. "Droid. Get rations and water for my daughter. And be quick; if I even think you are wasting my time, you'll be scrapped and substitute!" With the threat implied, the droid bowed quickly and ran out from where he was standing at the door.

Leia looked at him with disgust.

"I won't eat your food. And stop calling me daughter."

"Yes, you will, and no, I won't."

"I'm the daughter of Bail and Breha Organa—"

"You were a _prisoner_ of Bail and Breha Organa!" the sudden yell was enveloped by a heated fury that ran through the room and shut up Leia momentarily, her skin hardening with chills. Prisoner? What the hell was he talking about? She was more of a prisoner now than in all the years with her adoptive parents. Vader noticed the confusion on her face, a sound of pish coming from his mouth. Just now Leia noticed how expressive Vader's face is... For a man that deals with politics, he would be a terrible one.

"I was never a prisoner at all. My parents adopted me.”

"Your ' _parents'_..." the word was spoken with absolute disgust. "They stole you as a newborn baby from your mother when she was in her most vulnerable state."

Leia opened her mouth to defend her parents of those unidimensional lies ... But the words did not come, the fury did not beat through her or gave her power to retaliate in the name of her parents. When she stopped to elaborate a thought, her whole body froze. Her lips closed and opened, but words couldn't be formed... From somewhere very, very deep inside her, something said that Vader's words were _true_. But that would be impossible! He is almost her age, and he wore that suit and people said he was more machine than man, and... Something whispered to her that he is saying the truth. That is the same 'thing' that helped her to know when her parents would come and see her poking around in biscuit jars in her childhood; when someone was lying; when something was not what looks like... Something that never lied or deceived her before was saying that her parents were baby hijackers... Coming out of her stupor as she shook her head, she babbled.

"You... There's no way you're my father. We are the same age." It was the most logical question for this particular moment, but it served more as a way to gain time, to understand her own thoughts.

"This rather silly question shares the answer with many others, daughter of mine. Everything is the Force. A gift that was denied to you in your creation under the tutelage of the kidnappers." she was about to say something on top, but Vader came first, some obtuse pride barely disguised in his voice. "But I doubt they could control anyone with as much potential as you. After all, you are my offspring." The little satisfied smile was strange when together with his golden eyes.

"For the last time." she tried to say with passion and fierce, believing that her beloved parents weren't what Vader is saying, but it came soulless. "I'm not—"

Again, she was cut. This time, not by Vader's voice... It was something else. That same 'thing' made her stop. This 'thing' shook inside her and the air went from neutral to freezing cold, splitting her skin and making her lips tremble. She expected a humongous fear growing inside her chest as the cold surrounds her, locking her where she sat... But she didn't. Dizziness came under her and the cold felt like anesthesia in her pained body, but never she did felt fear... She sensed an ocean of fire that periodically exploded into pure hatred, betrayal of those she loved, loss, injustice, terror... And unstoppable happiness? A feeling of endless security... As if, in that cold, she was safe from all the dangers of the galaxy. For just a moment, she wanted to embrace the cold, but she abstained... And there was one thing at the end. Truth.

"Do you feel the Force around you, daughter of mine?" Even sitting in front of her, not even ten feet apart, Vader's voice came like a distant sound on the back of her ear. "You feel these emotions that sting your body, the intensity of each one?..."

"Yes... I do." closing her eyes unconsciously and responding to Vader with no hesitation, like she had that response ready her entire life, Leia remained silent as the cold made some kind of formication spread through her skin. She was getting used to the cold really, really fast... And it is good. The cold is dismissing the lethargy on her body, the pain is just a far thought and her brain felt a fresh sensation of renovation. The cold heated just a little bit, becoming even easier for Leia to sink herself in it. At the other end of the table, Vader smiled with utmost satisfaction. His daughter entered a meditative state with just that slight push he gave her; she is natural in the Force... Her power cross borders that even he didn't understand. "What... are all these feelings?"

"They are all a fraction of me, daughter of mine." she didn't say anything, so he kept talking. "a fraction of me to you. It's me connecting with your mind and showing you what has been denied to you for so long. This power is the Force. The power you have inherited from me and that you can bend and mold as you desire." briefly silent, Vader commenced to separate his signature from Leia's."Now you understand? All your life you saw things through the eyes of a princess from a small planet, as a Rebel fighting a lost cause, as a scared girl... Now, you'll see the world through the **Force**." and, finally, he let her alone. He didn't leave her head, but she was harnessing her own Force to maintain the meditation state. It was no surprise when she started to crack.

Leia frowned her eyebrows. She saw... Tentacles of darkness, coming from the ground and waiting in patience for the very moment she was not paying attention... To attack. She didn't like it. She didn't like it a bit. Her body began to tremble and a different cold start to gather upon her. Not welcoming, not embracive... It wanted her. Her soul, her mind. It wanted to make her drown.

"Get out of my head..." she finally managed to speak, both elbows against the table as she held her head, a drop of sweat falling from somewhere. She tried to fight Vader's presence in her head, but she couldn't for the simple fact that he wouldn't fight back... He just seemed... to belong there, scattered all over her. Almost as he was not the problem, not the one causing those black tentacles to creep in her mind. She didn't enjoy the idea to fight an invisible enemy, but it was nothing she hadn't done before.

"As you wish, daughter of mine." As fast as he came he went away, the reality around her looking rather strange when she caught her breath. She looked upon Vader, seeing his poisonous smile; but not to her, he was smiling to someone else... Before she knew, she had placed her hand on her breast... She felt empty. The Force left her and left behind a strange tingling. Leia felt hollow, lost even without that inebriation. Her pain became a little more prominent and the latency in her head returned with a packed punch, and she wished she had the Force back... But she did refrain from talking about it. Vader did not fail to notice, of course. "Now do you realize the truth in my words? That you came from the proud communion between me and your mother? That the Force is capable of things no other thing in the galaxy is? That you... _Are my daughte_ r?"

Leia's silence as she sank uncomfortably in her chair spoke volumes; the look of disgust only helped. Vader's heart took a twinge when he noticed this disgust so illicit, but again she was deluded with illusive lies all her life.

A heavy silence settled between father and daughter. Leia was reeling inside. She was Darth Vader's daughter. _Kriffing Darth Vader_. She would have preferred a quick death in the Death Star than live long enough to discover this truth. Her eyes shirred when she studied him again. Blond hair, golden eyes, stone face... She looked almost nothing like him, so she probably took her mother's characteristics. A morbid curiosity was born when she thought about her mother; Vader said she was at her most vulnerable point and that Leia was just a newborn baby when she was... abducted by Bail and Breha. But who was she, her real mother? What is she like? Where is she now? As soon as she was about to break the silence to ask these questions, the medical droid returned with the rations and water sticks, frustrating her lightly.

... No... Not lightly. She felt anger. She would have taken her curiosity away, but the droid got in her way... Clenching her fist, she imaged the droid as a flaming mess of carbon in the ground. She could des—

"Here you are, Miss Vader." The foreign and badly formed thought disappeared from her mind as if it hadn't even existed in the first place, the droid putting the ration packets and water sticks in front of her. Infuriated, Leia uttered.

"About the question from before, droid; it's Princess Leia, not 'Miss Vader'." she said with a tone of purpose, looking straight into Vader's flaming eyes. They didn't lit or froze, a facade of calm on his face. Maybe he is not that bad of a politician?

"Very well, Princess Leia. Anything else, Lord Vader?"

"Out." With the only command, the droid left the room. "And you, eat. You need strength for our future activities."

"Eat? What if it's poisoned?" she asked with disgust and was about to add her own doubts about these "future activities," but Vader spoke first.

"I would never hurt my daughter."

"You would've tortured me on the Death Star! And you threw me against the wall too using the Force. Explain that, old man!" she said, crossing her arms, the sting of pain ignored. Vader closed the metal fist and pointed with the flesh one to her, a small spark of anger escaping from him... And that satisfied Leia on some deep level.

"I'm not that old. And don't you forget you almost killed me with my own lightsaber! Patricide isn't a taboo in Aldeeran anymore?"

"I didn't even know you were my father!" this time she pointed at him, her voice rising a few decibels. When she noticed this exact posture was a reflection of his, she slowly decreased her finger until it landed on the table.

"Then you finally recognize the truth." Vader smiled in satisfaction. She snorted loudly and dropped her head to hit the table, being stopped by some kind of air cushion. "Do not hurt yourself more than you already are, daughter of mine."

"You are not my father!" Before Vader could respond, she hit her hand on the table. "It wasn't you who raised me or anything like that; even though Bail and Breha... kidnapped me from my mother... They still gave me a good and happy life!" The attempt to defend her biological parents sounded extremely bittersweet when the truth of the situation was said out loud. Her parents are kidnappers... This thought made her heart squeeze, the gentle and sincere smile of her father, the warm hugs of her mother. Suddenly, that anger inside her cooled down and died out slowly... only momentarily, as Vader was already talking again.

"I would have given you one even better! You would have grown strong by my side, exercising my legacy or that of your mother proudly! But now? They fed your head with lies and hid you from your father by right! And yet you still have the audacity to defend that miserable excuse of a family?! Built upon lies, keeping secrets from you, hiding away what makes you who you are! In the time of the Republic to this day they were parasites, as were all the other politicians who turned something that should be for everyone into a war field for personal gain and corru—"

 **"Enough!"** With a particularly loud cry from Leia that she had no idea she could produce, Vader ceased his words, the fury bathing in his golden eyes and weighting in the air, making it hard to breathe. Breathing deeply several times, Leia tried to calm down. Her heart beat frantically, her breath was warm and her body was aching in pain. If it wasn't enough, now her head is spinning like one of those tornadoes of the surface of Kamino. So much to absorb, so much to think about... It was too much... It was tearing her apart. "I... want time. Time to set my thoughts straight."

"And I will give you time, daughter of mine. But I hope you come to quick conclusions, for our time is short."

"Short?... What do you mean by that?" she watched as he stood, his hand extended somewhere. Suddenly, a black cape flew into his hands, quickly being thrown around his shoulders and creating the imposing figure of Darth Vader without the mask and the chest plate. Leia noticed for a split moment that she was wearing an outfit similar to Vader's; all black. She changed into the only change of clothes that the medical droid had offered her before she could go out lividly to find Vader and get her answers. Black boots, black leggings, a black sleeved shirt, black gloves, and even a black Vader style cape, but she didn't put the cape; c'mon, there's a limit for those kinds of things! She has too a black belt with a Vader style skirt which, if she was wearing the cape, would only be two steps away—the mask and breastplate—from becoming a miniature female version of Darth Vader... No comment about the undies being also all black. Her hair was also undone, curls threw all around framing her head and shoulders, falling all the way down on her scapula. She looked threatening and very Vader-like.

She didn't particularly hate the outfit, but she didn't like it too!... Not too much.

"I will let you come to your own conclusions. There is a Holo-screen in your room with two databanks; watch the videos on them and then come and ask the questions you will surely have for me. I will be available to you anytime, daughter of mine." Vader hovered under the door, arms crossed and eyes closed on her. With a painful sigh and not wanting to argue because of the growing headache, Leia stood up and followed her... Father. The thought of it alone made some hatred and disgust within her... She swallowed dry when noticed the hatred was no fully directed to Vader.

"And how do I communicate with you?"

"Use the Force." it was enigmatic... But she asked no more questions. Somehow she knew she would be able to communicate with him if she needed to... That emptiness from when Vader left didn't seem as deep as before.

For a few moments, they both followed side by side through the wide grey corridors of the Imperial base, the little light annoying her slightly. Vader too looked like he was restraining himself of walking quicker than her, his cape floating around him and making him, already big, look massive and scary. What someone would think if they saw them walking like that? Vader all imposing, cape floating menacingly around him and her wearing an outfit almost equal and siding with him, an evil look on her eyes... Would she have golden eyes as Vader?... She imaged for a moment a lightsaber beating softly on her tight while she walked. Frowning in disgust, she destroyed those thoughts... This version of her screamed Imperial and she didn't like an ounce. 

Again, Leia turned her gaze to Vader... He was far too young. Even if he said he was 42, her brain was having a hard time to see the 'galaxy through the Force', as he had said prior. The Force, what kind of answer is that? She knows the Force is mysterious, but to prevent aging, to keep a young and healthy body?...

... What if it is possible for her too, as it is for her fa--for Vader? What if she could have learned this as a Jedi?... She knew there was a Jedi named 'Obi-wan Kenobi' in Tatooine, but she never had contact with him... Why didn't her parents let her train with him?

A sliver of hate was born inside her for her adoptive parents. Why did they deprive her of such great power as the Force? They spoke so well of the Jedi, heroes of the Republic, and yet they kept it from her... She could have helped the Rebellion so much if she had been trained as a Jedi. If she had been trained... she could have avoided being captured by Vader—better... she could have killed _Vader…_

... It was not fair. It wasn't fair, it just wasn't! How could they do something like that?! Did they think she doesn't deserve it? It was because of her heritage?! Or they thought she was different just because of her power? The anger and sadness of lies and betrayal began to bubble up and she didn't even notice when her fists closed, her gait became heavier and her lips firmer... What if they thought she was a freak because she was diffe—

A warm touch in her mind took away her concentration and only at that moment did she perceive her thoughts, a corrosive cold spread within her. Where did such widespread hatred come from? Why was she judging her so loving parents without even hearing their side of the story?

"Control your hatred, your anger." Vader's voice came suddenly, drawing her attention. He was still walking steadily and staring down the hall in front of him. "The Dark Side may show a gigantic power at no cost, en easy way to grandeur. It will sound good at first and you will feel that you can do everything, going deeper and deeper without thinking about the consequences—thinking that you are unbeatable with it at your side, nourishing power through your veins." he stopped for a moment, almost like making a note for himself, before continuing. "Don't fall prey to this trap, don't let the Dark Side arrest you and turn you into their slave. Control yourself and stay true to who you are and only when you have the Dark Side under your chains and obeying you, only when you bend the Force to your will... only then will you have true power, daughter of mine." then he looked at her brown eyes with a slant. "This is your first lesson as my apprentice and your first step on the path to becoming a _Sith_."

Leia momentarily kept silent, staring at Vader. Then, frowning, she looked at herself... and then at Vader. Vader himself raised his eyebrow seeing his daughter acting strangely.

"Is that an edgy group by any chance?"

_**What…** _

"What?…"

"All black, that Dark Side stuff about hatred and this name, "Sith". What a ridiculous name. Is it like a dark version of the Jedi Order?"

"What?" Vader, honestly, didn't understand it. But something inside him said what she was talking about is classified as disrespect in the "How to be a good parent" book. Suddenly, Leia said sarcastically while pointing at him.

"You're like an all-might goth! By the Stars, that's _cringe_!"

"Look here now, young lady! Be careful with your words. I demand respect..."

"Or what? Are you going to cry and stain your eyeliner?" Making a fist gesture next to her eye as if rubbing a tear, Leia could only laugh when the anger appeared on Vader's face. She didn't know why his face was so expressive—maybe because of that mask—but she just found a gold mine of entertainment in this place... making him angry with teasing and mockery. "And I'm about your age, so I don't want to hear nothing of 'young lady'."

"If you don't show the Ancient Sith and me, your father, some respect and keep using those weird words... I'll do... something." how did she manage to change the focus of the conversation?! He was teaching the Way of the Sith, something extremely important to prepare her against the constant fight against the Dark Side... and she reciprocated with teasing and senseless words? Edgy, cringe, goth?! What is all this?! What part of her couldn't understand the advice he was giving to her?...

... Maybe he needs to read that "How to be a good parent" book. Just making suppositions about it will get him nowhere.

Something in the Force said that the coming times were not going to be easy as he thought initially...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, that was really long! But I liked the chapter.  
> Vader sowed the seeds of the dark side in Leia and it's up to her to fall prey and drown in the dark side, resist it and go to the light... Or be like Vader, that knows the dangers of the Dark Side, but knows too the dangers of the light and the Jedi  
> of course, there will be a lot of shenanigans in the middle  
> Thank you guys for all the support!


	4. Leia throws a Sith Holocron down the toilet and Vader doesn't answer a thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Took some time. I've got the Sims 4 Star Wars expansion... And I, uh... Was having a lot of fun making Kylo Ren cook an omelet and disgracefully failing at the same time, just two rooms apart, Rey was playing battlefield on the pc.  
> But here's the chapter!

The Emperor was thinking; pondering; questioning...

Sidious never questioned the infinite power of the Force—most the opposite, he always hunted knowledge of all the secrets of it as he delved into the depths of the dark side—and throughout his epic life, he saw many things. He saw Jedi turning to the Dark Side, he tasted every second of the slow death of the Light Side, he saw Plagueis's wisdom, Maul's endless rage, Dooku's graceful odium, and especially... he enslaved Vader's everlasting storm of power.

Vader...

Disgust took over the Emperor's face, one of his calloused hands rubbing the arm of his throne.

In front of him, the holo-recording kept repeating itself. It began with the princess being thrown away by Vader—almost dying by his own weapon, what a pitiful excuse of a Sith Lord—and then, reinless, Vader tries to get up... Sidious rucked his eyes, staring at the young face of his slave. At the time of this recording, he'd felt Vader's power grow to levels that chills what remains of hair on his body. So much power from the Dark Side without any censorship, flooding the galaxy, the death of all life that it makes the Death Star look like nothing. A power exactly like the Sith myths of Darth Nihilus. Sidious thought with a laugh that if the Jedi Order existed to this day, everyone would have felt it. The young children were going to start crying and throwing tantrums left and right because somehow the strong walls and peace of the Temple shattered like glass within a moment, a feeling of sick cold invading them and crushing their dim light. Padawans would become tense and wonder from where this wave of darkness came, the same with the knights... The masters would seek the Council, but the Council would have no answer to offer. It would be complete pandemonium.

Vader, Vader... So powerful on the Dark Side that out of nowhere the Force gave him his young and unrestricted body, all so that he could live a second life strengthening himself in the darkness. 

And then, to Sidious's pure surprise, Vader crawled towards the princess. He was touching her calmly, tenderly… And the Light Side engulfed Vader and hid his darkness. It was for just a moment, but it made Sidious's delight turn completely around, becoming full disgust, almost nauseating. Vader connected with the Light because of Princess Organa. At first, Sidious thought that Vader had desires for the princess, an innate carnality that he only felt for his late wife and, for seeing someone similar to her awakened his lust. Sidious expect Vader to take her as his right there. But he didn't, and so Sidious started to link the dots. No more than one minute of thought was needed to understand Vader motives; birthday on Empire Day, the same day that Amidala died. Adopted by Bail Organa, Amidala's close friend. The appearance got from Amidala. So, Amidala's baby had indeed survived. But there was no Force in the girl, Sidious would've felt the Force of Vader's offspring a mile away.

Vader, Vader, Vader... He slipped momentarily from such incredible and abundant power because of his miserable progeny.

As soon as the holo-video ended, it repeated.

Vader, Vader, Vader, Vader... So powerful, but still so weak. He lost all his power because of a mere child. A Sith Lord who feels love, who feels endearment.

 _Vader..._ betrayed him, left the Sith...

Sidious faced Organa for a moment, a smile of ridicule appearing on his face. His apprentice betrayed him and the Empire because of the girl, and now both are hiding from his judgment. But he knows it won't be for long; Vader recovered his body, but not how to use it. He depends on the Force just to walk.

There will come the time Vader will be found, festering in his weakness alongside his sad little rebel of a daughter. The faster, the better.

By pressing a button on the Holo-table, the video vanished, making way for a list of names. Bounty hunters, villains, the mafias across the galaxy and, of course... His **Inquisitors.**

Remembering the disgusting memory of Vader touching Organa's face, Sidious allowed himself to enjoy the Dark Side weighing the atmosphere.

 **Vader...** showed his greatest weakness. 

* * *

Leia moved uncomfortably in her bed, eyes caught in the red pyramid embroidered in gold on the other side of her room. Vader said nothing about this strange pyramid as he brought her to her _room-more-like-a-prison-cell_ and left her abreast of various things; three-meal times, what she could and couldn't do, if she wanted anything, was to ask the droid who was parked all the time in front of her room and, whenever she had a question, she would address him. Again, his answer on how to connect to him was for her to use the Force.

Now here she is, in the most boring room she's ever been in her entire life. Gray floor and ceiling, black walls. Single bed with sheets, pillows and bedspreads all in black tones. A fresher with all black tile and a wardrobe... Full of **black** clothing. She hates this kriffing place even more now.

The only things that weren't black colored were the pyramid and the holo-television stuck to the wall, the pyramid standing on a black corner table.

Again, it was a boring room and, as a personal touch to annoy her, permeated with Imperial smells— _gunpowder,_ _fire_ _and evil._

The moment she entered the room, all she wanted to do was lie down on the bed and rest, hoping that a few good hours would be all she needed to ease her stabbing pain and the spinning head and, to be honest, probably it would... But that red pyramid... She couldn't blink without that frightening cold reappearing in the back of her mind, the tentacles of darkness threatening to approach and grab her by the ankles. The pyramid radiated the cold in her room and made a soulless environment—everything was painted in cold colors—look even more freezing, borderline unbearable.

Sighing deeply, Leia stood up from her bed—pressing her side with a growl as she moved too fast—and walked to the pyramid. In her mind, her goal was to take this pyramid, go to the fresher and hurl this thing in the toilet and see the water flush it away from her. It was an easy plan and it would probably free the atmosphere from that agonizing cold.

Still... The moment she raised her hand to grab it, she stopped.

She stared at the pyramid for a long time, the Force inside her which until then was silent and a little vague, grew furiously and full of creeps at the surface of her skin… But there was no anesthesia now, only fear and anxiety. Something was going to happen if she touched that pyramid… No, not 'happen'.

_Something was going to change._

Black tentacles appeared inside her mind and moved into the pyramid, a strange heat rising at her fingertips suddenly. Letting out a sigh as if relieved, she deepened her gaze at the pyramid. The Force was saying that it was safe, that what was going to change was going to be good, that it was going to help her... It was calling for her, a lovely song in her ears. She heard promises made without words. She knew that if she touched this pyramid, she could escape from Vader's base...

... She could kill Vader on the way out... And then she could return to the Rebellion and, with that power, she would lead the Rebellion—... Slowly, half trembling, Leia's hand approached the pyramid.

—And everyone would praise her name, everyone would kneel before her... She would kill the Emperor... And the Death Star would be hers to prevent any other tyranny from threatening the peace she would spread throughout the galaxy. All that power, all that respect... Everything was just a touch away.

If she just touched this red pyramid... she could help the Rebellion. She could destroy her enemies... she could have the Death Star...

She would have the galaxy in her hands. All the galaxy Just... a touch away from her.

_"Don't fall into this trap, don't become a slave of the Dark Side"_

Leia couldn't find out why that recent memory of just an hour ago invaded her head, neither she understood why the Force, so mysterious, took all her concentration and directed it towards these few words of Vader... She tried to ignore them but, suddenly, her hand lit on fire. Holding her wrist, eyes wide-open and a cry of pain, Leia moved backward, continuing to walk until her back fell on the bed, the throbbing of her wounds completely ignored by the adrenaline that flooded her body so suddenly. The fire licked her hand completely, rising up on her arm slowly while she started to roll on the sheets with pained screams, tears falling thought her eyes as her legs caught on fire too... She couldn't see, but she knew exactly what was happening; the tentacles of darkness were attacking her. Those tentacles that ruminated promises of power and control, that were so attractive and sang beautiful songs, quivered and tried to grab her with might and pressure all over her body, crushing her bones and making the liquid from her brain spin inside her skull, everything destroying her from the insides whilst her skin burns.

One of her hands moved to her forehead, squeezing hard to create some pain there and thus take the focus off the fire that was smoldering her body. She was burning, but her surroundings looked like some cave on the planet of Hoth. Crying out loud, she felt absolute pain as the fire took over her entire body, but she couldn't scream nor cry it away anymore... Her eyes and throat were melting too.

Sweating profusely and tripping all over the place, she skedaddles to the fresher, not bothering to take off her clothes. Lowering to the coldest possible temperature, Leia turned on the shower and stayed there, desperately trying to rip out the presence of the tentacles and the infernal heat. Strangely enough, the tentacles disappeared sometime along the way, but the heat didn't... After almost 30 minutes in the bathroom, she finally felt 'good' enough to leave, wipe herself and put on some new clothes, her face looking 10 years older while she dressed in black leggings, black shirt, black socks... What a surprise.

Sitting finally on the bed, her wet hair thrown around, Leia faced her own hands for a few moments... She could still feel the fire that melted her skin... Still, it was a fire that never truly existed.

By the stars... _What kriff was that?!_

Again, her eyes turned to the pyramid in the corner of the room, a feeling of emptiness where it stands... It wasn't the pyramid who set her on fire. That... was the Dark Side of the Force trying to enslave her?

She doesn't understand the concepts, she doesn't know the difference between one and the other, she didn't even know that the Force has sides... But she knew as she grabbed her two legs and wished for the warmth of her adoptive parents' embrace, that the Dark Side was no good, the feeling of her flesh cremated still loading on her back... And Vader was immersed in it, wasn't he? She felt it in him. She saw Vader's suffering, pain, anger, and anguish. However, everything that came from Vader... was bathed in some welcoming feeling, one that she still didn't understand where it cames from. They were cold feelings, but the cold made her feel better.

What makes Vader different? What made his anger, hatred, and sadness different from the emotions that this red pyramid emanated?...

How she wished that she had died on the Death Star; that would have been a better fate than discovering the truth about Vader and having to experience such blurred, twisted feelings... Still, Leia was no little girl who was scared and shrunk in some corner. She has her feet buried deep in this situation and she doubts there's any way to separate herself from the Force—it's hereditary, after all—this whole situation is happening, she must make the best out of while fighting to stay true to who she is.

Swallowing the ice wall in her throat, ignoring her body's needs, her headache and remaining great pain, Leia decided to do what she said she was going to do; seek conclusions, find answers. Taking a deep breath, she concentrated on her own thoughts, ignoring the cold of the pyramid and the very thoughts that betrayed her. It began as a monumental task, and several times her thoughts were stopped and changed direction either because she was starving, or by an especially strong sting of pain in her body, or even by an attempt from the Dark Side to call her to the pyramid. However, Leia struggled and struggled to wrap her thoughts together and understand all the nuances of this lunatic situation. Slowly, the pain in her head began to fade and the pain in her body to silence, her hunger just a distant thought.

Her thoughts began with the matter of her adoptive parents. Bail and Breha, why? Why kidnap a child from her mother and, as much as she hates to give Vader this title, from her biological father? The Force around her tinkled, the call of the pyramid being muffled by the memories of her parents so kind and lovable to her... Leia frowned, not even realizing the moment she had closed her eyes to focus even more on new feelings that came with sudden clarity. She could feel... danger. Danger from the past, but yet ominous. In the very past of this planet, even...

_It was Vader..._

... But not the _Vader_ that she spoke to an hour ago.

It was Vader, indeed, but worse than that pyramid. There was so much rampant anger and hatred, a profuse feeling of betrayal hovering in the blur of feelings that she saw in the emptiness of her own mind and, above all, almost tangible, an endless fear coming from Vader. At some point, she was consumed by pain for only a second and her body shivered, it was very similar to when she started to burn, but so much worse... This Vader was completely different from the one who she had a conversation so little time ago, taunting even... He got angry, that is true... But there was no real danger for her. How many people managed to taunt the Sith Lord and still lives to tell the story?... Was there anything special besides the fact that she is his daughter? The Force responded with a small but existing warm feeling. The warmth was quick to grow, enveloping her and pushing further and further away from the influence of the dark side. An extremely familiar warmth, almost like Bail's hugs... but there was something, something that went beyond Bail.

And then those thoughts cracked when Past-Vader's feelings appeared in her head again. If she had made those jokes to that Vader... if she had disrespected that Vader...

She felt an uncomfortable pressure around her _neck_.

Bail and Breha kidnapped her... But they did it to keep her away from a Vader mad with hatred, pain, fear, betrayal and sadness... But they still took her from her mother.

She tried to search for feelings about her mother, but very little came from it... Just a glance full of tenderness, of sadness, but also of everlasting love... And nothing more. The Force gave her only a hollow feeling when she tried to look for more about her mother, pushing boundaries as she tried to find something more. The moment her frustration at the lack of information raised, Leia felt the dark side begin to gain power from afar.

As quickly as possible, her mind flowed to the Rebellion. The just fight against a torturing and dictatorial Empire, the cause she so admires and is fearless to give her life if it needs to be done. She needs to return to the Rebellion... They need her there. The Death Star is out there with the only leash being the Emperor and she knows that if the Empire puts the Death Star in vigor, the Rebellion will be totally destroyed and she won't be able to do anything to go against it...

But how can she escape from Vader and return to the Rebellion?

The Force spoke denial... A strong denial. Leia didn't understand and tried to look for better answers... The Force was saying that she could not return to the Rebellion... The kriff?! So she had to stay with Vader and—

Confused to the extreme by these responses, her focus died easily. With a deep, wide-eyed breath, Leia returned to reality... Her forehead was covered in sweat, her legs tingled and the headache was gone as such the physical pain now just a discomfort on the surface of her body.

But the hunger that made her stomach growl, the thirst that cracked her lips... Without much thought, she got up from her bed, her belly aching with the few movements. Panting and cloudy-minded, she was already on her way to demand anything edible from the droid outside her room, being stopped when the very droid himself entered through the door, packets of food and water sticks on a tray. She doesn't know if those are the only things Vader has in stock, but she really cannot care.

With her eyes fixed on food and water, Leia took the tray out of the droid's hands before he could say anything.

"Princess Leia, excuse the intrusion. I don't know why Lord Vader decided to send a meal at 3 a.m—"

"Get out, droid!" Leia shouted to the droid, her patience short while opening the first packet of food. The droid servant stared at her for a moment before, grumbling 'Like father, like daughter', leaving the room soon after, the metal door slamming behind him.

Leia couldn't tell how long she was gone, but if her voracity while eating said anything, it was for some time. A long time.

Still, she was out doing what? It didn't look like she was sleeping... She still remembers clearly what she did while out of consciousness... Especially the questions that stuck in her mind like ithorian glue.

Who was her mother? Where is she now? What made Vader feels those emotions? And the Death Star? And the Empire? And the Rebellion?...

There were so many questions, but she had no answers...

... There was only one last thing left to be done.

At the end of her meal, Leia was about to start imagining ways to use the Force to communicate with Vader—however, nature called her first.

After a good hygienization as a very long bath, a count of tiles approximately the hundreds and brushed the teeth twice just to be sure, then Leia was ready to use the Force to communicate with Vader—however, the pyramid won't stop its callings.

After using her sheet to roll up the red pyramid and finally getting to hurl it in the toilet and flush it away, now Leia was ready to call Vader using the Force—however, she was too bored to do such a thing and decided to turn on the holo-television. Vader said she had two databanks there, with videos that would make her go to him and get answers... But she already has a lot of questions for now. Otherwise, Leia smiled sinfully when she saw that the holo-vision had Holoflix. Even Sith Lords stop and watch something when they are bored.

After a few episodes of The Walking Geonosians, two Nhibli films, and a documentary about the Sarlacc she decided that she would finally call Vader—however, it sounded much better just to stay in bed and face the grey ceiling.

This until a nudge in her mind took her attention away from the strangely interesting grey color of the ceiling and moved it to the door. A chill was born there and she felt as if that scene of hers in the imperial prison, waiting for Vader to come and torture her for information was repeating itself. This time, however, she was unable to gather her forces to fight the results of Vader's legendary means of torture... The Force was saying that it was not necessary.

Seconds later, Vader walked through the door with fast, heavy steps. And he didn't trip this time, worthy of note. He kept his eyes on her from the door until he finally stopped in front of her bed, arms crossed and legs slightly open, staring coldly at her with his golden eyes... Her chest tightened as she remembered those abrasive feelings of Vader, raw and full of intensity. Perhaps the Force is wrong and she really needs to prepare herself for torture.

The Force said she was wrong about it being wrong. The _audacity..._

"You fear." Those were quick, small words... And yet, the room filled with ice that pinched her. It wasn't inviting to her, it was just there and it didn't make her feel good. Moving uncomfortably on the bed, Leia hardened her face and tried to face Vader directly in the eyes... But it was difficult. There was no inner bravery that gave her power, or thoughts that she was in danger if she didn't do something. "You fear that my answers are not what you seek."

"Were you spying on my mind?" It came before she could really think, and when she checked that phrase, anger against Vader arose.

"No, daughter of mine. You projected your insecurity stronger and stronger every time you attempted to crush it with childish procrastination. I said our time is short, but you refused to listen."

"Don't judge me, Vader!" Finally, some will winked inside her and, pointing her finger at Vader, she spoke. "Since I got here I have had no guarantees, just more questions and uncertainties!"

"I offered you answers, but you don't seem to be willing—" seeming to notice something, Vader looked where the red pyramid was previously resting... His gaze returned to her, a little alarmed. "Where is the Sith Holocron?"

"Oh, that red thing? All the way down in the plumbing." She felt a little satisfaction as she watched Vader's frown shrink, the apparent doubt and confusion as he analyzed her with his golden eyes.

"What?"

"In the plumbing."

"In the plumbing... In the plumbing?!" and then, with an almost high pitched scream, his eyebrows rose and absolute disbelief painted the figure of Vader. Leia could feel a smug smile born on her face seeing this reaction of the Sith Lord, her arms crossed.

"Exactly."

"You... threw one of the most precious Sith relics, a test of mine to you... into the toilet?!" Leia's satisfaction died when Vader spoke the word "test"... that; a test? Oh, the fury was born within her, no doubt. She felt as she was burning alive! What the kriffing vaping distorted test was that?! Rising quickly from her bed, Leia turned with heavy footsteps until she was facing Vader, all her height and staring the Sith Lord in the eye, finger pressed against his chest.

"Yes, in the damn toilet! Do you know why—"

"I don't need to know your reasons as you had success with my help." Vader pointed to her, a few drops of anger warming the arctic ice around them. "But I didn't think you'd be so blind as to not understand why I gave you this test—"

"You don't even know the first thing about me! Don't try to imagine what I will or won't do, Vader!" she cut Vader in the middle of his sentence, and when he was going to speak again, she spoke over him. "And shut up! You'll hear me and you'll hear me now! Yes, I was afraid of the answers because the questions I have may change all my kriffing life and views! They even humanize you, a _monster_! You don't realize how much it hurts me to know that my parents—"

"Kidnna—"

"No! Parents! They were my parents for 20 years! They taught me everything I know, the person I am today wouldn't exist if it wasn't for them! Damn that a life with you or my birth mother would have been better... I had an amazing life and I love Bail and Breha like my parents. I know it's unfair with my birth mother... and you... but it's the truth. And yet, the dark side has done something to my head. If I'm inattentive for a moment, there's hatred towards my parents, there's a desire for power and control! That kriffing pyramid took me so close to the dark side that—" she bit her own tongue. Should she tell Vader that his 'teachings' made her see clarity?... No, she didn't felt comfortable doing that. "Kriff that thing! This... This power-hungry, controlling individual is not who I am. I fight for peace and democracy, for the return of the Republic!"

"This is not the first time that the Republic has fallen, but this indeed will be definitive. The Republic shall never return to the galaxy again." His voice sounded as if he hadn't heard a word she said, but the Force made Vader's cold more and more accommodating... Still, hearing from Vader that there would no longer be a Republic filled her with hatred, making her momentarily forget her focus.

"And what will we have? An Empire of tyranny and death, where everyone cannot choose their own path and whoever tries to speak differently is crushed?!"

"And was it better in the Republic?" Vader was letting more anger escape, his eyes sparkling in sulfur. "What were the Clone Wars besides greed, lust for power, slavery? My master controlled both sides of the war, but he did not create the breaches to destroy the Republic. They have all been there for millennia, just waiting to be exploited. But now my master is nothing but a man who seeks more power! When we both take over the Empire as father and daughter, we shall build together a new age of prosperity!"

Leia stopped for a moment and tried to digest that hunk of information, but anger and the will to fight for a just cause made Vader's words fall on deaf ears.

"There will be no Empire anymore, and I will never stand by your side! The Empire doesn't allow, but in the Republic, people could still choose, don't you see? Planets were neutral, others were separatists and other republicans! Now, if you are not on the side of the Empire, you are sentenced to prison, investigation, and death. The Republic had its mistakes and wrongdoings, but there was diplomacy involved and there were people who really fought for what was right, like the Delegation of 2000 and the Jedi—" that little fury Vader became a flow so quickly she almost took a step back.

"You know _nothing_ about the Jedi, daughter of mine! _Nothing_! You don't know either their practices, their traditions, their intrigues, and their lies. You know only what you have been told and, with such erroneous information, you fight with claws and teeth for a fallen order of liars and warmongers dressed as peacemakers!" The gross was so great, the hatred so sticky. Vader hated the Jedi on a personal level... why?…

... Was... he once a Jedi?

Vader seemed to read his daughter's eyes, his anger becoming a little quieter as he turned, a puff of air as an uncomfortable silence rising between the two... Quickly, Vader raised his hand and the remote of the holo-television came flying to him, the holo-television turning on right after. Leia observed it quietly, her anger still loud, but curiosity in even. The thumbnail of the Sarlacc documentary she was watching appeared first, Vader's right eyebrow rising as he turned her eyes to her.

"... What?"

"Why the interest on the Sarlacc?" Leia fulminated him with her gaze. What the kriff is he trying to do?

"I... like it. It's a really bizarre creature; you know, a thousand years of digestion and all those things." She observed Vader's face as he nodded very quickly. "Why the interest?"

"Nothing, just asking." And the content menu appeared, Vader selecting the two databanks and opening a tab with two folders inside.

The first folder was the one that caught her attention first; Death Star.

The second... "Jedi and Sith/Clone Wars/Order 66". She has a notion of the first two subjects, but the last was an unknown one.

"Yes." his voice came out suddenly, calling her attention. Yes?... Yes what?...

_... Oh..._

Darth Vader, the Jedi slayer, was once one of them.

"And... why did you stop being one?" she asked a moment later, the folder with a few videos appearing in front of her. There were two other folders entitled "Clone Wars" and "Order 66"; so she was going to watch videos about the Jedi Order and the Sith... She cannot avoid the anxiety and morbid curiosity in her heart. The first was a religion of old men that were nearing extinction and there is only one last one alive she knows about; the second, she only has Vader as an example... The Force told her that this Vader—without the suit—was not the best example. Black suit, scary breathing and a red blade, that sounds more like a Sith to her...

"That, daughter of mine, will be soon a lesson for you." he turned his gaze completely on her. "You can already feel the Force. You enter into a meditative state easily and manages to keep yourself for hours on end with just a little help from me." Leia frown when she hears this... Help from him? He was in her head as she searched for answers; "meditation", as he said? She was already going to question him, but he spoke over "No, I wasn't in your head. But I could easily enter your mind with you projecting your thoughts so openly in the Force."

"And what does that mean?... And stop reading my thoughts! Its invasion of privacy!"

"It means that if it weren't for my influence and the natural power of the Dark Side of Mustafar, then the Emperor would know where we are half a galaxy away." he ignored her plea for privacy... Of course he would ignore it. The moment she opened her mouth to speak about that, Vader spoke first, again. "You have natural shields, but now that you have finally recognized your hitherto dormant power in the Force, you have no shields for it. This lesson in the Way of the Sith is more advanced, but I will teach you it soon—"

"I didn't even agree to be your apprentice."

"And would you deny it if I gave you the chance?" Vader's tone was almost... instigating. Convinced. Well, that's what his smug face said, at least. Her anger bubbled and she wanted to deny it right away, but the Force held her and made her stop and think, eyes studying Vader in front of her... If she hadn't had a notion of the Force before, she would've denied it without a doubt. However, reviewing everything Vader said, studying his—ugr... that's a bit bizarre, just this word specifically referring to him makes her want to puke, along with others—teachings... and taking into account her experience with the Force until then... 

... She hates to admit it, but she has to learn to control the Force, as Sith or Jedi, whatever both orders mean; she just wants to help the galaxy. And she really needs help to keep away the Dark side of enslaving her. She never wants to feel that burning sensation ever again... And If the Emperor could feel her without "Force shields", she would walk unprotected across the galaxy like having a sign written 'shoot me' on Nar Shaadar... It was what the Force said. Apparently, Darth Vader was hiding them both from the Emperor.

Crossing her arms and pouting, Leia refused to acknowledge this fact. There may be logic, but she is still part of the Rebellion and with pride.

"The video you will watch will be divided into two parts, the first being the recitation of the Jedi Code by initiates of the Temple. The second part will be the recitation of the Sith Code by Inquisitors. Sith and Jedi live and die by their respective Code. Compare both, use my knowledge and the wisdom and intuition inherited from your mother to find the flaw that has caused both parties to fail in this fight of Oggdo and bog since the times of Ajunta Pall, seven thousand years ago." Leia released a harsh sigh in this paragraph of information. The Sith Order has existed for over seven thousand years... What a thing. "Any doubt, you must turn to me. Don't let the Dark Side create answers for you, much less create shortcuts and detours. If it tries to tackles you, tackle it with your own strength and enslave the Dark Side before it does to you." Without further words, Vader turned his body a bit on the clunky side, his cloak fluttering around him as he leaves, leaving a stunned Leia behind. However, she recovered quickly enough to shout one last thing.

"There were good people in the Republic, fighting for the sake of what is right!" Vader stopped his steps and a glimmer of hope demanded that she named some of those incredible people. "People like Senator Riyo Chuchi, Senator Mon Mothma, Senator Padmé Ami—" and then Vader left... Not before an excessively monstrous cold permeated the atmosphere, silencing Leia. Feelings of betrayal and... some emotion she can't fathom very well flooded her mind for a moment, disappearing later as if they were imprisoned inside a chest.

... What had that been? Was it a reaction to any of the names she spoke? It must be! The Force seemed to be fine with this idea... Still, it didn't make it clear exactly what name brought this reaction from Vader. Riyo, maybe? Mon?... Or Padmé Amidala? The Force didn't answer her. A few degrees of frustration were born inside her, a loud snitch as she lay in bed. The kriffing Lord Sith arrived, kriffs with her head, didn't answer any of her questions, criticized her political vision, spoke a lot of nonsense, left her with more questions, and now demand her to do her 'Sith homework.'

 _Kriffing Darth Vader_... acting like her father... Well, he is... But she doesn't like that.

Swallowing the frustration, Leia stared at the screen and sighed deeply, grabbing the remote. Time to watch a bunch of strange old men praying.

The cold that fell in the room was the worst of all she felt since all this 'Force' thing entered her life. Leia's eyebrows slowly contracted, her brain having no real sense of what had appeared on the screen. It was a room all made of creamy tones and with various cushions scattered all over the floor, a good quality camera recording the recitation of the 'Jedi Code', as Vader said... But... They weren't _old men..._

They were all children... _What the kriff?!_

Small children, very small—some hardly seemed to be able to walk properly—and yet, on each child's side, a lightsaber rested.

_"There is no emotion, there is peace…"_

There is no emotion... But emotion should be the life of a child, even more so a small one. And they were of so many species, so many young souls, full of innocence... Leia felt her hands begin to shake, the control dropped beside her on the bed, eyes concentrated on what was happening in front of her.

_"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge"_

No ignorance... Ignorance is a blessing. As she had said before, she would have preferred to remain ignorant of the fact that Vader is her biological father. A child's life is based on learning, but a child putting up with the truths of the galaxy should not be something common... A child wielding a weapon, above all.

_"There's no passion, there's serenity"_

Passion... Leia's hand went to her mouth, holding tight there. A life without passion, from an early age? They're teaching the children to be soldiers—to kill—and feel nothing... but... shouldn't that be the real neutrality? To have no prejudices and judge blindfolded? That's exactly what she heard from her parents about the Jedi... but never that those Judges without passion, who feel no emotions and are not ignorant, started as children.

_"There is no chaos, there is harmony"_

Finally, a line that makes sense... She was already starting to feel nauseous about all this—

_"There is no death, there is only the **Force** "_

What did they mean?... That last sentence made the least sense to her. The screen went black and, looking from it to the remote, Leia decided to pause the video for now.

This last phrase was the one that confused her the most. "There is no death, there is only the Force"... The Force is mysterious and many strange things happen when it is involved... Still, there is no death? Only the Force?... What is life for a Jedi?... They start young, almost toddlers, knowing that they will die and that there is only the Force after that as well as living their lives with no emotions, no passion, no ignorance... She had to think about it...

However, that was only the first part. Swallowing dry once more, she faced the remote on her hand, a throbbing cold in her heart... The second part is the Inquisitors reciting the Sith Code... If she is Vader's apprentice, then she is like an Inquisitor? The Force seemed to deny that particular thought.

Pressing her lips, Leia clicked for the video to continue, her heart uncertain about what would follow... The Force acted a little more agitated. It took a few moments for the black screen to take on color, a chill rising through Leia's body when Darth Vader's mechanized breathing sounded close to the camera. Several teenagers were kneeling before Darth Vader, the Sith Lord showing his back to the camera—she thinks—his arms crossed, watching the young inquisitors. With their heads down, the teenagers began to speak—by the few glimpses she had of the teenagers' eyes she had confirmation of a theory of hers; Vader's eyes were unnatural. Something on the Dark Side makes one eye turn to that sulfuric color of yellow.

Unconsciously, Leia touched the top of her left cheek, very close to one of her eye.

Without delay, the teenagers began to recite the Sith Code.

_"Peace is a lie, there's only passion"_

In fact, the Sith seem an alternative version of the Jedi order—just the first line of their code is an antithesis to the Jedi Code—even if she does not agree with the first part of this line, she understands where the thought comes from; the tentacles constantly trying to reach her and her struggle to keep herself aware of this fact, there is no peace while she fights against the bonds of the dark side. The second... She agrees. Passion is something that everyone should have, for that is what makes the work valid of pride. She is passionate about democracy and everyone's rights and equality before the law, so she fights for it with her life.

_"Through passion, I gain strength"_

... That is true. Passion is what brings your strength from the depths of your core. Leia squeezed her two hands together, sighing heavily.

_"Through strength, I gain power"_

No, that part isn't... But, from a certain point of view—No. Leia stared deep into herself, forcing the tentacles to back away.

_"Through power, I gain victory"_

No. There are other ways to be victorious, you don't need to exercise your power on other people, that is what the Empire does. A new flow of anger began to arise within Leia in part of these specific teachings, her grip on the black tentacles loosening as her mind ran through how wrong those last two lines were.

_"Through victory, my chains are broken"_

...Isn't that what Vader commented? 'the dark side enslaves you'... Are those the chains the inquisitors are talking about?

_"The **Force** shall free me"_

Shall it truly? Since she connected with the Force, she feels more trapped than ever...

The video then ceased, the screen returning to the holo-television menu.

Leia kept repeating to herself the words that both Jedi and Sith recited—finding the flaw that makes both parties fail... The inquisitors seemed to really believe in the Sith code, just as those Jedi children seemed to believe in the Jedi code. And Vader was on both sides, lived the two code some time of his 42 years of life... And the code is the life of the bearer. Does he still believe in any of these codes? The way he speaks about the Sith and the Dark Side, and his clear dislike of the Jedi...

The Force was also silent about her questions, not nudging or giving her any instructions...

She would have to ask Vader, therefore. Taking a deep breath, Leia began to think about various methods of contacting Lord Sith... No procrastination this time.

He hadn't made it clear how to do it... And even so, she didn't think she needed it. All the methods seemed flawed, and every time she looked from one, less thought she put into every form of communication. Leia's specialty is to find the right answers by responding to the wrong questions. Eventually, she reached a point where her mind was empty and, almost naturally, she called out a name.

_"Vader..."_

_"Speak, daughter of mine"_ she let out a sigh she didn't realize she had saved... Is this the Force? Even though Vader was away from her, she could talk to him using only her mind. _"That's just a scratch on the surface on the infinity power of the Force that exists between me and you, daughter of mine."_

 _"What do you mean?"_ she wanted to ask him to stop calling her his daughter, but she doubted he'd listen to her. Uncomfortable, she realized she would have to get used to it... At least until she escapes this kriffing place.

 _"Communication by Force is something that few can do; an extremely strong bond between the two individuals is necessary."_ she could hear his smile when he spoke the next words: _"The moment I saved your life, your signature of the Force clung to mine. The moment you touched the Force for the first time, our bond blossomed... And then, you recognized me as your father, and the father-daughter bond was fully realized. Do you ever wonder why the Force speaks so much to you, daughter of mine? Before, it was only a whisper from the dormant Force inside you, but now It's my deep knowledge infused with our both great prediction power combined. However, this is a lecture for another time. Tell me, why did you call me?"_ he already knew the reason but wanted to hear from her. Kriffing scoundrel.

Swallowing dry, Leia thought for a moment. She should've feared having a bond apparently so strong with someone like Darth Vader. He was the Imperial Executor, he killed rebels for his whole existence, and from a political point of view, he is everything Leia hated the most... And yet the Force denied nothing. This cold inside her did not bother her like the one coming from the 'Sith Holocron'.

Remembering her meditation, Leia recalled the moment she thought of the present Vader and compared it to the 'past' Vader... Vader would never have accepted those taunts, but he did nothing to her. Vader would have killed her and tortured her on the Death Star, but he didn't... Differently, it seems that he escaped with her from the Death Star, since he was running from the Emperor as well.

This Vader was not the Vader the Force has shown to be mad with hatred, betrayed by someone, or full of sadness. He still had all these emotions inside of him...

But... something has changed. And she knew it had something to do with her.

Maybe—just maybe—he can keep changing... maybe... she can make him leave the dark side... just maybe, she can make him change sides and see how better democracy is compared to the Empire.

But was she willing to give him a chance to change? Was she willing to ignore all the sins he committed, all the destruction, sadness, unhappiness he caused? She wasn't sure about all this... Still yes, there is no better weapon than to make your enemy change sides—especially if your enemy has the Death Star. So, with a deep sigh, Leia pronounced.

_"I have some questions, Vader."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, this chapter was a hard one to do. Palps knows about Leia and have kept the Inquisitors (Vader thought they were dismantled) as a secret. The Dark side's grip on Leia is strong, and Vader goes for the rescue in the most Vader way possible... Showing the consequences of accepting such lies from the Dark Side (of course he didn't make her feel like him when he was all fucked up on the shores of Mustafar; that could've killed her. What he showed was a normal day on his suit), then Leia makes a lot of questions but she doesn't want answers, and Vader responds to none of it, and she is like "bro, wtf?", and then we have a lot of Jedi/sith bashing, they talk in their minds and a bunch of foreshadowing throughout the entire chapter, I must say.
> 
> The next one we will finally have some lightsaber action! Thank u for your time, bye for now.


	5. A lot of things happen, Leia thinks a lot and Vader is there to help, but he is total ass at lightsaber fighting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh-oh, 10k word chapter ahead. End of the 1° part of the fic too!

Vader was having a hard time. His morning wasn't one of the best even before his short talk with his daughter at the gym. He had decided to stop his exercises for the day—his muscles seemed firm and strong, but the lack of exercise was evident with him having to spend high levels of energy on the smallest movements—so he decided to go to his room, turn on the holo-television and watch documentaries about mechanical advances and maybe some professional pod-race... of course, professional only in name. He as 9 years old was a better pilot than most of the pilots on these professional circuits. It is also a satisfaction that in thirty years watching pod-race, he has never seen another human winning the first place. He still the only one.

And then, he felt Leia's Force signature change. She was finally approaching the Sith Holocron. Hoping that his warning had been heeded, but not entirely sure that his daughter would be able to resist the temptation of the Dark Side, Vader stayed at the forefront. It ended that she couldn't resist, so he... _gave her a little help._  
  
Sending strong sensations of his own former scarred body enveloped by the suit, he felt as she waved intensively her responses over a period of almost forty minutes; panic, pain, anger and total confusion. He waited for her to go to bed and cry over such latent emotions and sensations, but Leia showed him that she was truly Padmé's daughter, filling him with pride; she got herself patched up and started to organize her thoughts, coming extremely close to deep meditation... so he helped her once more. Taking the thread of her mind and connecting it to the meditation plan, Vader left her to scavenge her own conclusions.

  
Almost twenty hours later, Leia left her meditation and Vader, ceasing his reading of the “How to be a good parent”, already had her droid tackling her with supplies to quench the hunger and thirst that plagued her Force signature. He hoped that immediately after her meal she would go to him for answers, so he waited... 

  
She did not. She got herself imprisoned into a strange loop of procrastination every time she thought of going after him for answers. It reached a point where Vader's frustration reached such high levels that he went there to take satisfaction from her, but he left her room as a gigantic pile of nerves. Satisfaction filled him a few minutes later when she actually came looking for him.

A few minutes after leaving his daughter's room—possessed with sadness and fury at the mention of Padmé Amidala... Thinking about her already hurt, but hearing the name of the woman he loves so much come out of his daughter's mouth... it hurt a lot more than he imagined—she finally managed to use the Force to call him, and here we are.

 _"Ask, and I'll answer what I think is worthy of an answer."_ it was his answer, sitting cross-legged on the black floor of his room.

_"Wait, now you will limit—"_

_"You don't read between the lines, daughter of mine. Those that I do not find worthy of an answer may, in the future, be questions that will be a must for your training. For now, they are not."_

_"Kriffing rascal."_

_"I demand respect, daughter of mine. Direct yourself to me as Vader or father, not as a rascal."_

_"Or what—"_ he shush her up with his own voice trembling the lines of connection in the Force.

 _"Perhaps I can take away some of the few idle pleasures I've given you."_ His tone lacked clarity, and for the delay in receiving an answer, Leia was thinking about it. A spike of surprise soon came with a response from his daughter.

_"You wouldn't dare take the Holoflix off!"_

_"Are you sure, daughter of mine?... you don't even know the first thing about me"_ he let his presumptuous satisfaction run through the Force, her answer being an irritated pout that could even be read into the threads of her mind. The power to use a phrase that someone used against herself. He remembers when Padmé used to do it to him... When he did it with her, however, his wife entered in the state that he likes to call 'lecturer'. They are not the most pleasant memories.

 _"Your tactics of persuasion are low, Vader—just the things I'd expect of the Empire."_ Vader couldn't let go of having a minimum lift from his mouth in that phrase of hers. There was disgust in her mental voice, but not the hatred that, for example, she carried when she showed up at the gym door earlier, fulminating him as if she wanted to put a hole in his chest. It made him feel good, after so long, to have a conversation that did not involve natural fear, concrete hatred, or unbridled disgust... It took him to the past times, to Padmé's side; wisely, he locked these emotions away from his daughter's so fragile and useless radar... but latent in potential. Everything in Leia was dripping potential.

_"That I remember, you do have questions, don’t you?"_

_"Right, change the subject, Vader."_ her tantrum fell to deaf ears and the Force radiated that, Leia's eyes rolling. _"..._ _A_ _bout the video you showed me."_ she stopped talking for a moment, as if she thought of a better statement, pondering the right words to execute the question with the maximum of potential, a political thing she got from her mother. _"You said that Jedi and Sith live by their code; and yet, in the Jedi code those children say 'there is no passion, emotion or ignorance'... what do these words really mean?"_

A good question. Doubts about the Jedi Order were gradually being sown all over his daughter's brain and no doubt he could kill that image she had that the Jedi Order was made up of incredible people who want only the good for the galaxy... The same image he had as a boy. He would ensure that his daughter would not grow up with such lies that they could lead her to be manipulated—she would know the naked truth of the Jedi Order and the Republic as a result.

_"It means what it seems. The life of a Jedi must be eternal servitude to what is 'right' and to the Force—blinding themselves for the rest of the galaxy and living only by their own ideals."_

_"And... what is a Jedi's life journey?"_

Vader's smile was bigger than the prior. That question... He expected her to fear the answer just a little more, but she was really Padmé's daughter; when she was sure she wanted something, she would go after it. Thinking of the right words, Vader soon began to say.

 _"It starts with the babies being taken from their parents."_ The shock in the Force was the expected reaction. _"Jedi can't have connections with other people; attachments. Babies are taken so early to ensure they won't create attachments to their parents, love, or care for them, so to speak. In the Temple, they train to leave any emotion that makes them thinking creatures behind; a Jedi has to be perfect in every sense of the word. A Jedi cannot feel love, empathy, compassion, sadness, grief. Nothing that the code forbids"._ Leia listened to his words carefully, her insecurity at high levels was an omen for her doubts and apprehension, perhaps even anger against the Order; all the emotions he seeks. _"As a child, they study. As young men or women of 11-13 years, they are either chosen to be trained by a master or knight, or are taken to some parallel institution where they are forgotten and cease their training in the Force and are forced to live their entire lives like this. As a padawan—a learner—they learn the ways of the Force from their master through missions throughout the galaxy. Later in their life, if they survive adolescence, they become knights and can train an apprentice. They continue their lives as masters, perhaps enter the Council, the highest rank inside the Order... And finally, they die,"_ he concluded with a memorial note, Leia not responding for long moments.

The empathy for the Order was inside her, the doubts about the Jedi, the shock at their practices that went against much of what she believed. A dry hatred for Bail grew in Vader. How could he alienate his daughter so much? The hypocrisy of a politician is always one of the things that irritate him most. Fighting for true knowledge and the end of censorship that the Empire holds so tight, but hiding vital information in Leia's creation in a sense for her never criticize and blinded follow the Jedi.

Vader really wanted to stab his lightsaber through Bail's chest right now. Bail did nothing more than what was necessary for his daughter in terms of raising her, but in education he was a pulsating failure. Leia deserved much, much more than alienation and idealistic concepts. She deserved Padmé's wisdom and his cold knowledge of the galaxy and its inhabitants.

 _"I... How... There's no way I can believe all this!"_ she shouted, the strings of force swinging around her. _"These practices are illegal! Kidnapping, child soldiers... The Republic would have done something about it and... yet..."_

 _"Yet the Force tells you that all my words are true"_. Vader felt that answer coming from miles away. Leia is a prodigy in the matter of hearing the Force and, with their bond getting stronger each moment they talk, she only grows more powerful in this particular gift of hers. _"The Republic has always depended greatly on the Jedi throughout history: the Great Hyperspace Wars; the Sith Empire after the Mandalorian Wars; Darth Revan and Bastilla Shan betraying the Republic in a sudden move that almost sealed the downfall of the Jedi. All of these are few examples of how close the Republic were to fall, all of them having them depending on the Jedi to save the small embers of a failed regime. Eventually, I will teach you the depths of those stories as well as the relations of religious peacekeepers in intergalactic politics."_ This end phrase was formed with the sole intention that irony would be present. Leia seemed to realize this, her lack of response telling everything he needed to know.

 _"Okay... All right, I… Kriff, that's hard. What does the last line of Jedi code mean?"_ she was indeed stunned by all his words, which is good. Later, those same words will come around and she ought to understand his teachings.

Ah, the last line of Jedi code. The greatest proof of what it really means to be a Jedi. Leia was connecting the dots precisely, gathering information, and he knew she got everything from her mother, a great woman and more than cunning politician—sooner than he might think, Leia will come to an answer.

 _"As the way a Jedi lives, it dies; believing in the Force. It means that, even if it is not necessary, a Jedi will die by the will of the Force—sacrifice their lives for the sake of a greater good."_ he expected to her notice the sarcasm in his voice.

_"Even the... padawans... the children?"_

_"It's the **Jedi** way."_

Leia stood silent for a long time, but now it's taken longer than before. He even got worried for no reason. He knew that she was still there and that at some point she was going to answer him... But, still, his chest swelled with anxiety for her delay. However, Leia finally returned his words, the Force waving her signature; she was tense, insecure... She even felt betrayed, and he didn't doubt that one of her reasons for having stopped responding for almost five minutes was to concentrate on the struggle against her inner emotions, to drive away from the dark side.

_"How was your journey as a Jedi, Vader?..."_

He did respond with a lost sigh, ice at the bottom of his spine. That was a difficult question for him and one that would undoubtedly reveal too much. He couldn't lie to her either; the Force would alert her seconds before he could complete his thoughts. Therefore, all he did in the next moments were to send denial through the Force. Leia took a while to catch the feeling, but her frustration at discovering the lack of response rippled strongly into the Force.

_"I thought you were going to give me information—"_

_"I also said I would respond to what I saw as useful. My life as a Jedi does not sound useful for this conversation"_ before she could hang onto that question more specifically, Vader continued to speak. _"But, as I said, me leaving the Jedi Order will be part of one of your future lessons. You would not understand my motives now without the necessary knowledge of the Order, the state of the Republic at that time, and... your mother"._

_"You could be more direct about those sorts of things."_

_"Spreading information crooked and straightforward will get me nowhere. Delivering answers at the right time, expecting maximum impact, that is prescribed. I would imagine that you, as a political aspirant, would understand the power behind how information is delivered"._

_"Kriffing laser head. I am not in my best condition for political thinking; and it is all your fault. Now... About my mother—"_ Suddenly, the rope of force between the two swung with full might making Leia release an acute cry of surprise and almost cease the connection with her father. Vader was swift to keep them connected, tapping his teeth as he pressed his metal fingers into a clench, quickly getting up from where he had been sitting until then. He almost stumbled, spitting the hair that entered his mouth while he held himself up with the Force. As fast as his twisted by disuse limbs allowed, Vader made his way out of his room, the lack of a lightsaber hitting his thigh annoying him deeply and almost making him want to punch his own face.

_He was careless, very careless._

"Vader, what was that?! It was almost like—"

 _"What you feel is an Inquisitor. His ship has just passed through the atmosphere"_. Vader didn't expect anyone to find him in a span of just a week... but a force-sensitive one? He never doubted that his master had things hidden from him, that's an undeniable fact. However, Sidious had ordered the execution of all the Inquisitors after the repeated failure of unity over the years and at Vader's own hands. He still vaguely remembers the massacre of each Dark Side user, all dead at the end of his blade... Still, his master hid at least one from him... No, not just one. Sidious never has just one of his tools.

_Kriffing Sidious._

_"An Inquisitor, Sithsplit... But... The Dark Side is totally different in him—"_

_"We'll talk about this later, daughter of mine. Ask the droid to take you immediately to the gym on floor 14, section A. I'll be there in a few minutes. Let the Force guide you, for the Inquisitor brought troops with him... Take care."_ Not expecting an answer from his daughter, Vader ceased the connection of the Force, quickly following to press a button on his wrist armor, a communicator similar to those he used during the Clone Wars. A robotic voice sounded on the other side of the line.

"Lord Vader, I have been trying to connect with you for minutes! Several objects are entering—"

"I already know, droid! Dispatch the defenses; prepare a two-week shuttle with supplies at the hangar bay of floor 12-14; put the entire base in protocol 1; code **OP-23** goes into effect the moment I hang up this call, 20 minutes module. And be quick!"

"Yes, Lord Vader!" The call ended the next moment, Vader continuing his quick steps towards his gym. He had to get a lightsaber as fast as he could; if he tries to attack only with the Force, no doubt he could get past the troopers, but not the inquisitor. He would be dead in a matter of moments if he tried to fight only with the Force in this decrepit body... He didn't want to leave this galaxy, not now. Leia has to be trained, she has to learn to protect herself from the Emperor and he has to kill his master... And he really doesn't want to leave after discovering that there's still a part of Padmé in the galaxy—that there's still a reason to live.

Sighing powerfully, Vader rushed his step.

* * *

Leia's mind was frozen after Vader hung up the mind call, centered on the power the Inquisitor emanated from a distance in the atmosphere itself. It was exactly like the pyramid, it was exactly like the Vader she felt in her meditation... Her heart swayed with this idea. She couldn't understand how anyone could live with that kind of hate, that kind of pain inside their bodies. And worse... how would Vader face this Inquisitor? Yes, Vader was powerful in the Force and all that nonsense—but the images she saw in her mind were all of Vader barely able to walk, having to lean on metal bars to stand up and the Force just to walk...

She knows he uses the Force to keep walking—kriff, there's no way to not notice it, the Force buzz with every move he makes—could he face the inquisitor, someone trained in the lightsaber arts? She won't get that answer by sitting here on her bed.

Jumping out of bed fast as kriff, her head heating up quickly, Leia whispered the place where she would encounter Vader as she walked out of her room, her gaze falling on the droid next to the door looking really desperate.

"Princess Leia, by the Creator! There are invaders on the planet, but Lord Vader didn't make clear—"

"I talked to him, droid! Take me to the gym on floor 14, section A!"

"Of course, Princess Leia! Come on, let's go!" With that, the droid began to make his way full of tension to where the gym is, Leia following close. Above her head, she heard explosions and loud tremors, her walking becoming quickly a run and only now she noticed that she wore no shoes and the only thing separating the floor from her feet was the socks. A loud grunt made her think how her fingers would hurt with all that walking through the halls of Vader's base. The droid in front of her was ruminating on words that she couldn't understand, quickly turning around the corners that, frankly, all looked the same. The imperial style was never about creativity, she notices it more and more.

When a partially large explosion made her lose her balance, Leia leaned on the wall... The Force screamed for her to hide as fast as possible.

Looking frantically sideways, she took the mechanical arm of the droid and, ignoring the frightened confusion and words that "Vader would kill him if he didn't hurry", as she moved to the door nearest her. Quickly opening the door, throwing the droid and entering shortly after, Leia managed to hear something like a laser torch working behind her. Closing the door with a harsh slam—she didn't notice, but this little room seemed to be a storage room, which meant no lock... Or because the only living creatures were her and Vader in this place? She doesn't have much idea which of the options is right—however, soon there was a metallic sound reverberating loudly when something hit the floor, heavy boots banging soon after and then there were voices.

"Find the prisoner; stun her, don't kill her. The chief said she wants the prisoner alive. Go!" The voice sounded obviously mechanically equalized, and with a wave of apprehension, Leia supposed that they were stormtroopers. Kriff... How many? She didn't know. But there were a lot. Some kind of confirmation was made of the other soldiers and the sounds of footsteps began to drift away.

She was unarmed and the Force knows how many stormtroopers on the other side of the door. The droid beside her trembled and whispered about its impending destruction, which did not help her one bit.

Only serving as a new injection of fear for her, the Force shouted that the stormtroopers would enter that room in a very short time. Confined in a small room, unarmed and with only the company of a useless droid, Leia found herself with few options... The best she has—and always hurting her pride—was to her follow Vader's teachings.

Trust the Force to guide you... Kriff, she can do it! She will do it! She doesn't know how, but she will find a way or die—literally—trying.

With her heart racing strongly, squeezing her lower lip in indecision, Leia swallowed dry and closed her eyes. Her mind passed through a lot of thoughts, the anxiety rising with each one, her fear growing degrees loose as her body trembled with unsafely. If she don't do anything she might be captured, taken to the Emperor and then she was going to be twisted and her mind will be full of the same feelings that the Sith Holocron emanated. She doesn't want that, she doesn't want to lose herself; but her hopes were slowly dying, her grip on the Force drifting away from her, the dark tentacles coming with haste to try and hurt her... Until something similar to a touch happened inside her mid, the loud cry of the Force suppressed and the tentacles suddenly stopped their approach, a sensation of warmth too parallel to that which she felt during her meditation... however, this time it was like a hand on her shoulder, almost implying whoever was doing this trusts in her. It didn't do the job for her, but it was there to help her gather herself and her strength... She felt soothed, good.

And the moment the metal door opened and she caught a glimpse of the Force of four stormtroopers on the other side, Leia felt her **own** power in the _Force_ exploding from her insides.

* * *

With red thunders flooding the corridors, Vader made his way with a trail of blood below his feet to the gym. Stormtroopers invaded from all sides, many ships for the defenses of his hidden base to fight against... They weren't even trying to go unnoticed, which meant that this Inquisitor had a confidence beyond normal in his abilities. He probably thought that because Vader was 'weakened' by his new body, he couldn't fight properly.

_What a mistake._

Using the Force to hang a trooper and throw his dead body on the other one next to him, crushing his back against the wall, Vader finally saw the gym at the end of the hall, speeding up his pace, the feeling of a weak but constant power on the dark side approaching... The Inquisitor may be too confident in his abilities and carry significantly less power than Vader, but he is still a trained user on the dark side of the Force. If he underestimates him, death may find him in ways that Vader cannot avoid. Experiences have taught him to never, never underestimate his opponent—a melting slash sensation crossing his flesh members made him uncomfortable immediately...

... Never _underestimate_ your opponent.

Hurling the door away with the Force, Vader walked in quick steps to the weapons terminal—the presence of the dark side becoming even closer and closer along with at least five or six troopers—the Force swirled with a warning around Vader, the terminal changing to the training module using lightsabers. Raising both hands as he turned his body, Vader put a Force shield around him and separated him from the red shots coming from the hole where he had a door until then, the troopers squatting for better accuracy... Vader's face twisted, the shield cracking with each overheated shot he deflected. However, with his Force oscillating, several lucky shots passed and one of them tore his undulating cape. He was using too much of his power...

Furiously pouring ounces of his power into the Force, Vader threw a powerful Force push towards the entrance of the gym, most troopers being thrown away and losing their weapons on the ground, giving enough time for Vader to raise his hand in the general direction of the weapon shelves on the other side of the room and pulling out a lightsaber handle, bringing the red blade to life at the same moment the troopers were shooting at him again. Advancing in the middle of the new hail of blaster shots, deflecting some back to the senders, Vader walked straight out of the gym, beginning to swing his overheated plasma stick in a way that would make Dooku cry of how unimaginable, unthinkable, and unfathomably gruesome way Vader was fighting.

The movement of his feet was all wrong and misplaced, no attack had cadence and he knew he was leaving many gaps that could be easily exploited—but for now, his saber cut through stormtroopers like butter and slaughtered everything around him. It wasn't graceful, but it worked.

Anyway, the moment came when the last body fell to the ground, the top half separated from everything that composed the stomach of the trooper. With a heavy sigh, not yet accustomed to functional lungs, Vader let the acrid smell of burning flesh permeate his nostrils before turning his yellowish eyes to the person watching him quietly until now, leaned against one of the ways on the other side of the corridor—the side through which he came—a woman he supposed, the protrusion on the chest of her black armor with the symbol of the Empire on one side telling stories. She was facing him with a feeling of grandiose contempt in the Force, releasing in the atmosphere all her power of the dark side...

Vader was completely satisfied to realize that the contempt came, of course, from how massacred her power seemed before his.

"Vader... moves like a child swinging a stick he found thrown on the ground." The voice modified by the inquisitor's helmet took over the corridor, the cold stifling the noises of explosions and blaster shots in the distance. His anti-aircraft weaponry were definitely doing good in the onslaught of this inquisitor.

"It is true to say that my movements are lacking form and grace. But..." turning off his saber provocatively, Vader spoke in a tone of superiority. "I am fit enough to end your miserable existence, Inquisitor. Tell me, is your mission to kill me? The Emperor shows himself with low standards, if that's what it is."

The woman just shrugged her shoulders, disengaging herself from the hall wall, her left hand picking up the double lightsaber from where it rested on her hip.

"You talk too much, Vader... But that's all you are, a talker. Your power means nothing if you slip from the great might of the dark side by a little girl." There was a dark satisfaction in the Force when the inquisitor watched Vader's icy face become a few degrees angrier, the mention of his daughter bringing what the _"How to be a good parent"_ book calls paternal instincts to light. "No, my mission is not you... You are just the prize I will claim to finally become the Emperor's right hand!" Vader could feel in the Force that this was not the whole truth...

Without giving Vader a chance to think, the inquisitor turned on her double lightsaber and set off to attack, Vader bringing his own and starting the clash of blades...

* * *

_Leia doesn't know how she did it._

"How did you do it, Princess Leia?!" the droid shouted after her.

"I don't know!" she really don't know, her bulging eyes accompanied by a feeling of euphoria inside her that made her heart beat faster and faster by the second. But, not paying attention to it, Leia kept her gaze focused in the way throughout the samey looking corridors, the droid running rigidly beside her. In her hands, she was carrying a blaster rifle that she picked up from one of the stormtroopers when she pushed them with her mind...

She kriffing pushed those stormtroopers! With the **Force** —

_She used the Force!_

The feeling of pride in herself was great and it stood side by side with her ceaseless euphoria. How had she done that?! And... she could do it again if she tried? She tried to remember the feeling in her mind when she let the Force roll around inside her body, energizing each cell and pull out that push that threw several men in heavy armor away with just the movement of her hands, but everything she got was the pulsating and lasting sensation of a hand on her shoulder... The hand calmed her and put her in the right path, but it let her do the Force Push for herself! The Force nudged her side and, quickly leaving her mind process, Leia lifted her blaster and got the high ground as soon as she turned the corner, already shooting at the astonished stormtroopers. She managed to hit one of them, the other two looking just for a moment at the fallen fellow man before running to the sides, dodging Leia's shots.

The droid shouted beside her when a shot passed too close to him.

"We're taking too long! The base will explode in 12 minutes and we haven't even found Lord Vader yet."

" _What_ —what do you mean explode?!"

"Lord Vader has started the **OP-23** code, the whole base is going to explode!!"

 **What?!** _Kriffing Vader!_

Knocking her teeth out, Leia felt she had to hurry or she'd become dust scattered on Mustafar's surface. Leaving her cover with a burst of courage, Leia ran shooting, fortunately hitting the stormtrooper on the right at the same second the Force shouted danger, she following the instructions with haste and throwing herself on the ground, thus escaping a shot that would have blown her head off. With the only second she won from this maneuver, she shot the stormtrooper in front of her straight in the chest. Sighing heavily, Leia stood up from the ground with a grunt, her knees aching.

"Quick, droid, directions!"

"Right, Princess Leia!"

The droid ran out ahead and, armed and desperate, Leia went behind. That damn base was going to explode and she and Vader were still inside it.

_Kriffing Darth Vader must be wizardly crazy!_

With a few more minutes and several encounters with stormtroopers, Leia finally arrived at the place Vader had indicated. A bunch of stormtrooper's bodies were scattered all over the floor, the gym door exploded from its joints and, to her surprise, she saw several burn marks making the hallway a dilapidation scenario... Diagonal cuts, vertical cuts, decapitations, and limbs cut in general, as well as the marked walls. She knew the moment she saw them; lightsabers...

Something will happen.

* * *

Vader could not lie, he knew he wasn't at his best shape, uncoordinated and even a little too rigid... But he didn't think he'd be that bad at lightsaber fighting. With his suit, his movements were long and heavy, open and extremely powerhouses of potency, any defense immediately breaking down or, if the enemy would resist, it would get tiresome very fast; and soon he would be victorious by the complete domination of his opponent. While Anakin Skywalker, he flowed fast and voraciously, winning by brutal attacks that could barely be counted by most enemies. Now, he doesn't have Vader's strength, let alone Skywalker's agility.

Being pushed back, Vader lifted the lightsaber and defended the superior attack, moving the blade to the right and left, but not fast enough to avoid the grab attack, kicking the inquisitor away the other way and unbalancing himself backward in consequence, breathing rapid but nether in matters of sound; he didn't want to make his rough breathing clear. The inquisitor recovered too quickly from his kick, turning the blade in her hand before approaching again.

"You are weak, Vader!" she shouted, one move trying to hit Vader's right leg and then Vader's left, his flesh arm getting too tired of the inquisitor's quick blows. "Your limbs will give up, I can see every move of yours and, when I find the slightest breach—" she followed with a powerful sequence of right-left-up attacks of the Shii-cho form that sought to totally dominate Vader, sweat dripping from his hair as he redirected the attacks away, only for the next one to be too stronger and quicker and he couldn't deflect totally, the red blade tearing a little from his cape. "—I will annihilate you!"

Before the next attack came, Vader raised his hand and sent a wave of Force Storm through his fingers. The inquisitor seemed to predict this, spinning her double blade around the wheel—a design of lightsaber he always despised—preventing the thunder from reaching her. The inquisitor herself threw a Force Push then, taking Vader's concentration away as his feet slid across the ground. Reacting quickly, Vader used the blade to block an up blow from the inquisitor's saber, initiating once again the Form I: Shii-Cho pattern, each attack further destroying the corridors of his base... as was his intention. He senses that Leia had already reached the gym and was following the burn marks on the walls, which was the only way to communicate to her where he was going without the need of splitting his concentration.

He was getting tired too fast, no attack breach could be taken because of his withered limbs and lack of coordination. All he had at his command was the Force... and experience. The inquisitor was following him everywhere without paying attention to her surroundings, which Vader would use as an advantage.

Using a Force Push to hurl her just a little bit backward, Vader turned to the metal door behind him and used another one to rip the metal door out of its joints, flying metal with the inflated power of Vader's Force. Running to the hangar bay and swiftly entering it, Vader heard the inquisitor screaming behind him.

"Don't run from me, coward! I'll take your title from your cold fingers anyway, Vader!" she shouted, following Vader into the open hangar, her hatred palpable and more than personal, but Vader failed to pay attention to it.

The blades quickly reconnected... but this time with something new. The moment the plasma beams engaged on each other, a lost box flew up to the inquisitor and stroke her out of her stupor by banging hard against her shin. Her leg wavered and Vader used the momentary advantage to attack with power over the inquisitor, surprising her. Shii-cho's defense quickly was increasingly growing useless, her concentration loosening when some lost item flew towards her and hit her.

She tried to spin and cut a metal ball, the other blade defending Vader's red one. However, Vader used his favorite technique of Dejam So, the inquisitor having only a drop of notion to be fast enough to pull her hand away from the path. The double saber was melted into two halves, the other half turning off and flying to the door side of the hangar bay while, with heavy footsteps and staring directly at the red visor of the inquisitor's helmet, Vader resumed his sequence of long and cruel attacks. Not as strong as those he could deliver with the strength of his suit, but strong enough to begin to subdue the inquisitor.

Her anger bubbled strongly, noting the turn of tables that had occurred in a split of a second. In the hall, Vader had nothing to hurl at her. In this hangar, however, there were many things thrown around to be used as he wished. She even tried to throw things at him, but Vader foresaw all of her movements and sent Force Lighting to simmer her body and she'd had to use every degree of concentration to not die in the storm of red lightning. She was slowly being dominated by Vader's power and intelligence.

In an outburst of anger, the inquisitor shouted.

"You're nothing, Skywalker! Fight me, die like a Sith!" she yelled, pushing him with the Force before advancing with a new wave of violence upon the Sith Lord. Vader felt some ice of the use of his old name, but that mention did nothing but annoy him the next second.

"You, inquisitor, are only an insect," Vader responded to the provocations by hitting blades on the most basic form of Shii-Cho; it was the best he could do with his members controlled by Force. "Do you think the Emperor would make you his right hand? A pathetic woman and with no knowledge or real power on the dark side—a simple slave?! Before me... you are a mere child." Her fury boiled out of control, the attacks beginning to lose traction and she started to open obvious breaches, her pure anger permeating and pulsating through the air. Vader took the first chance that appeared and, with a punch in the woman's face, he attacked with his saber from up to down, being defended at the last moment as she retreated, the visor broken because of the punch in Vader's metal hand, tripping on the ground as her lightsaber flew off her hands.

Brown hair flowed through the broken visor along with blood, a look of pure sulfur impregnated in the girl's eyes. Breathing deeply, she locked her eyes to Vader, an incredibly personal hatred beating against him. Vader stared her more profusely, probing her hatred... His eyebrows rose when a sudden memory came; night, clones, hundreds of lightsabers... The fact that she called him Skywalker made a little more sense by now.

She seemed to notice this understanding of Vader, spitting blood out of her mouth before speaking with derision.

" _Clawmouse_ clan, under the tutelage of Master Hughn Ko... Do you remember me, Master Skywalker?!" she cried out, panting and dripping with so much hate.

"Skywalker is a man who has long lain dead." and raising his chin with a look of superiority, he complemented himself. "And no, I don't remember you, youngling." the woman's anger took high levels of coldness before it simply erupted.

"Of course you don't remember! Why would you remember the children you killed, that you betrayed?! Passing your lightsaber through those innocent little souls, breaking their bodies, burning holes in them! But you couldn't kill me, Master Skywalker! Master Shaak Ti defended me, and I ran... But now I will not run... I will kill you!" With a roar of anger, the girl brought her lightsaber back to her hand and tackled towards Vader, her speed fueled by the Dark Side burning so powerful within her. Still, she was nothing but a slave in the hands of the Dark Side, her power is a lie.

However, as soon as Vader was going to fight back, a great explosion in the distance caught his attention. The explosion came from the energy core... Did any of the bombs go off earlier?! There are still 3 minutes left! His daughter didn't even—

Leia... _Where is she?!_

This little distraction was all the inquisitor needed, taking the advantage with powerful blows and moving like a madwoman everywhere, blinded by the blood injected into her eyes in the shape of gold. Vader couldn't keep his feet up while the explosions resonated inside his base, each attack becoming more and more difficult to defend, the Force splitting itself between defending and trying to search for the signature of the Force of Leia. He tried to focus on the Inquisitor, but each explosion just made him more and more anxious for his precious daughter...

With a guttural shout, the inquisitor managed to break his defense momentarily, raising her saber up and exasperating in anger.

"My name is Mira, and I am your death, Sky—"

_**BZUUUMM…** _

A third lightsaber suddenly ignited it's path to life, tearing the shoulder that Mira used to hold the blade she would stab through Vader's heart. Even with only one golden eye appearing on her broken visor, the immense shock on her face was visible while almost two, three seconds of confusion passed, her left hand finally rising to touch the stump of burned flesh that had remained of her right arm, which was now on the ground... With a few steps without direction, the inquisitor fell on her knees to the ground, all her body quivering and her gaze turning to the still-lit blade that had torn off her arm.

Vader rose from the ground with a long breath, his sweaty hair dripping and black clothes soaked sticking to his body, his cape all destroyed. Leia's eyes met his, her chest gasping for air, the firm grip around the other half of the Inquisitor's lightsaber's fist made her knuckles whitish.

Leia, glassy-eyed, looked from Vader's impassive face to the girl's on her knees... She looked just about her age, maybe just a bit older... And yet there is so much hatred in her Force, so much fear and so much pain that weighted in her heart. Pure rage, golden eyes of sulfur looking deeply on Leia's eyes. She kept her gaze on the girl for a while, a distant thought sticking to the bottom of her mind; this could be her, in case Leia turns to the dark side...

She could be like this... full of hate, a shell of her old self. She could be like this...

""Let's go." Vader's cold voice took her out of her trance, the sound of the idle lightsabers filling the hangar, almost as loud as the explosions around the whole base. Leia stared between the trembling girl on the ground, hiding her tears of pain and trying to stare a hole in Vader with unsung hatred... But Vader's maintained his eyes staring deep into Leia... Almost as if they expected her to do something...

Everything inside her froze as she understood exactly what Vader wanted her to do... he wanted her to kill this girl—end what she started...

However, Leia was taken from her thoughts by the inquisitor herself.

"I will have... my revenge, Sky—" with a hiss from the red blade of the Sith Lord, the body of the inquisitor struck the ground, her head rolling away. In shock, Leia took a step back, staring profusely at Vader. Why had he killed her?! Didn't he want her to do it?... And the inquisitor was also defenseless, totally incapable of fighting... Killing her like this seemed like... "She was our enemy. I let her live, she reports to Sidious and comes back for revenge. This is the cycle of hatred that the dark side shows the greatest appetites, just as mercy is one of the greatest lies on the Light Side." Turning and making his cloak fly, but with a braked walk, Vader moved to the ship at the end of the hangar, several droids standing nearby, apparently full of fear. "Come on." His voice resounded strongly, his lightsaber deactivating.

Leia stared at the lightsaber she held—still turned on—and frowning her eyes for a moment, she took a deep breath... Vader was right. She didn't like it, of course; she liked to believe that all people can be redeemed if they pay for their crimes... well, most people. She would gladly put a blaster shot in the middle of the Emperor's forehead. But, just remembering the cold of this girl's so horribly, dark emotions... She can't erase the thought that, maybe like Vader, those emotions can be changed. Bending down, she hesitated for a moment but ended picking up the other half of the lightsaber from the still-warm hand of the inquisitor's arm... An arm she sliced off. Swallowing an ice wall on her throat, Leia began to move where Vader was going, not before she whispered;

_"Sorry..."_

For that could have been Leia... if she had let herself be taken by the dark side of the Force.

Disturbed but leaving these thoughts for later, Leia reached out Vader the moment he climbed up the transport ramp, his golden eyes meeting hers when he turned only for a moment as if checking whether she was still following him or not. Leia took the opportunity to go ahead, Vader coming right after. The droids stayed behind, just that annoying droid that led her to the gym coming too.

Leia tried to sit at the pilot's seat, but a wave of Force stopped her and gently carried her into the co-pilot's chair, where she fell on her butt with a twist on the upholstery, her eyes perplexedly staring at Vader when he sat on the pilot's chair... He was going to pilot this kriffing shuttle?!

Surprised by Vader's movement, she couldn't help but speak when she saw him start to lift the ship off the ground, already prepared for flight beforehand.

"You can't _fly_ this thing, Vader!"

"You let my supposed condition blind you, daughter of mine." With a bump, the ship was floating inches from the hangar bay floor, explosions in the distance closer and closer. "Even if I didn't have both arms and blindfolded, I could still fly this ship better than anyone else in the galaxy." His smug smile did not go unnoticed by Leia who, in disbelief, denied it with her head.

"I don't believe that."

Inevitably, her head moved to the golden gaze of the inquisitor... It was a gaze of pure hatred and fury, but somehow Leia knew that behind those eyes, endless fear was hiding and consuming her from the insides. Fear of death, perhaps regretting the path she had chosen, pondering better options than she might have taken throughout the path... The dark side could let her to this mistaken state if she lost herself in the way too, right? The Force made her skin chill when she remembered the red pyramid and the fact that she was that close to touching the dark side.

And to kill... She took note of the twin lightsabers stuck in her black leggings hooks, thinking how different it was to hurt someone with this kind of weapon. With a blaster, you hit a person, they fall and die. It's impersonal, even uncivilized... But a lightsaber requires you in front of the person, attacking in a too personal way. She's not sure she could kill someone with a lightsaber; weaken maybe, but kill... Looking ahead, she exasperated in a bit of surprise to see Vader flying by the shots of the few ships that made mention of following them.

He was too good at flying. It was even frightening the maneuvers and Leia chose to hook her seat belt around her, a very high explosion sounding in the distance. Vader's base at Mustafar was just debris and dust by now. It didn't take long for the hyperspace swirls to appear before the viewing window, none of the TIE fighters damaging the external armor of the shuttle.

The next thought in Leia's head was the one that got her attention the most: what now? Vader still wants to train her, but the emperor found them once, what guarantees he won't find out 'em again?

"We will follow the pattern of master-padawan training." Vader's voice called her out of her thinking process. Leia stopped for a moment and, digesting this piece of information, she soon crossed her arms and staring direct at Vader's eyes, she firmly said:

"Don't even think I'll call you 'master', Vader." she thought it would annoy him... But what waved in the Force was something like satisfaction, but suppressed.

"Good. Never call someone master." that... wasn't what she expected. Raising one of her eyebrows, Leia waited for him to complete his thought, but Vader quickly changed the subject. "The Emperor is following us and he won't leave us alone, he hates loose ends as much as he doesn't make the same mistake twice. We will travel across the galaxy and progress with your training in real situations. You shall learn how to fight with the lightsaber; use the Force; history; persuade people; the truth of the Order and the Republic, not the idealism they've been fed you for all your life and, of course, you will learn how to kill. I don't know how long we will travel the galaxy, but by the end, you shall hold the true power of the dark side, differently than that pathetic inquisitor I've annihilated." facing her deeply, he said. "You will be a true Sith Lord."

She stared deeply at him as if pondering... Once again, the golden eyes of the inquisitor repeated themselves in her mind, Leia probing Vader at her side There was hatred inside Vader, there was betrayal, there was fear, there was sadness, but none of these feelings could be compared to those the Inquisitor carried. Again, she also knows that at some point in her life Vader had feelings similar to those...But he is no longer that Vader, the Force even confirms this.

He have changed and—looking down, she really didn't knowing how to feel about it now; the first time she thought, she didn't have someone to physically compare the emotions that Vader constantly transmitted in the Force—he changed for her... She must try.

Crossing her arms, her own eyes tied directly to Vader's, she spoke with the most calmer voice she used this whole week.

"Vader..."

"Say it, daughter of mine."

"What do you think of... leaving the Empire?" he said nothing in the start, his eyes moving to look better at her, his only visible reaction being the slight frown. "Leave the dark side behind, come with me to the Rebellion... We can change the galaxy together, but in a good way, not by starting another Empire where people live in fear. True democracy and making the lives of the people enjoyable and good." she raised her voice to catch all his attention, eyes deep on his. Vader took long moments to respond, turning his eyes to the window and landing his both arms, prosthetic and flesh on the wheel as to rest. A very... Non-Vader pose.

"I have no place in the Rebellion, daughter of mine." Now that... that was not a phrase she expected from Vader. She expected something about power and the dark side and hatred, not this statement... Vader fulminated her with his eyes, crossing his arms when he spoke again. "Unlike the inquisitor, my mind is sane and I can ponder the questions that are asked of me. But... There are people in the Rebellion who would recognize me, even without the suit. That would not only be dangerous to me, but also to you."

Vader... Were he really listening to her and thinking about what she had said? It wasn't something she expected, but it was a surprise... a welcome one. However, moving her eyes to observe the blue whirlwinds of hyperspace, Leia said.

"I, too, will not stand by your side in your quest for a new Empire. Say what you like about Bail and the Republic... But I will always fight and stand for democracy."

He didn't speak for a while, an uncomfortable silence born between the two, his disgusting boiling in his face and something rather unusual... as if Vader was fighting something inside him... Then, with trembling lips, he said with some difficulty.

"I will not let you go... not until your training is complete. You would be completely open to Sidious, the Emperor, without it, considering all contacts you had with the Force."

It was true, wasn't it? Not only her, but the whole Rebellion would be in danger if she could not hide her Force from the Emperor and the Inquisitors. Swallowing her pride and looking away from Vader, she exasperated rather quickly, almost stumbling on some words.

"I... I will not leave until my training is completed, therefore. But then, if you do not join me, I will flee and we will again become enemies in the eyes of the galaxy." Vader seemed to remember something when she said that, her brown eyes capturing all the details of his face.

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes..." he whispered to himself before turning his eyes to Leia. "I would expect nothing less from you, daughter of mine."

"What?..."

"I am the master, you the apprentice. When the time comes, when all your training is complete and you are more powerful than I..." she took a deep breath when she heard that phrase. More powerful than Vader?!... The Force sang in truths with it and, at the same time, something inside her shook and left her very, very cold. "Then, only then your training will come full circle."

Leia couldn't feel it, her sensor lacking any kind of training, but the massive amount of fear Vader struggled to keep locked up was hard to contain... After all, he had just hidden from his daughter that for her to become a Sith Lord she would have to kill him. It seemed like a good end, he will be happy if he could die at Leia's hands... but... There was so much fear in that thought.

His face twisted a little when he stared at her, her big brown eyes stuck on his golden ones. There was hope in those eyes so bright, beautifully brown and not the sulfuric gold of the Sith... the same as her mother's. As he looked into those eyes, one of the gifts Padmé managed to give their daughter while she lived, Vader really considered certain things...

What if he left the idea of an Empire? What if he left the dark side... What if he stopped being Darth Vader and went back to being Anakin Skywalker?

No... It's impossible. Anakin Skywalker is already dead, there's no turning back for Vader. And yet, yes, there is... Just by looking into Leia's eyes, his mind was rumbling possibilities.

For the first time in 20 years, Vader really wanted to be able to change sides. He would never want to hurt his daughter, much less keep her by force with him—he would never let her become a slave—but everything indicated a future where the only way to solve things was with her killing him... And while it was a good future, he preferred the future where he could see her grow up. To see her fully develop, to marry someone of respect, have children and change the galaxy to the way she wants... to become and to have all that he and Padmé desired so much, for now, there is no Jedi Order or political intrigues to hold her back.

But it was a future that was not going to happen. He would train Leia to make the dark side her slave and how to resist it totally, he would make her the most powerful Sith Lord who ever walked the galaxy, and then... he would die at her hands.

That is the **Way of the Sith.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus, this chapter is the longest till now! Hope there weren't a lot of errors -- sorry for all them.  
> So! Here it ends the 1° arc of this story. I'm satisfied with the results since I did practically everything I wanted to do: A lightsaber fight, badass Vader killing in hallways, Father-daughter bonds, Father-daughter tantrums, Sith/Jedi bashing and preparations for Leia's train and her future, her views of both Orders and the Republic and her parents too.  
> Leia is set to have twin lightsabers (I feel silly that I've decided this because of the fact she has a twin), and they look like Inquisitor double-saber ripped in half, making two shoto sabers! (like this: https://prnt.sc/uj498z)  
> Leia is trying to get Vader off the dark side, but is she slowly falling to it herself?  
> Now we are going to cross the galaxy, have a lot of adventures in different planets, we are going to have viewpoints of other characters and a shit ton of fun! At least I hope.  
> Thank u for your time and support! Till next time.


	6. Leia and Vader cook pancakes and she almost falls to the dark side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, after some time preparing the future chapters -- and procrastination... a lot of it. Cut me a slack, I had 4 seasons of Svtfoe to watch -- I finally have the idea of what the 10-15 chapters until the end of this part will be like. Hope you stick with me on this ride!  
> Enjoy the chapter.  
> Oh, and man, that's wizard! 1800 hits, 100 kudos, and 20 bookmarks! So many numbers... Thank u guys for the numbers, much appreciated.

Vader took a tired sigh while connecting the last fitting of his prosthesis to the stump that is his right arm, flexing his fingers and closing the fist to test the connections. Gathering the tools and throwing them into the box on the side table, Vader stood up from the edge of his bed carefully. It had been about 220 hours since he recovered his original body; 9 days, roughly—4 of these days inside this shuttle traveling in hyperspace with his young adult daughter. The clear fatigue marks all over his body showed how interesting this experience has been.

Moving noticeably better with his legs, his auto-induced physiotherapy showing results, Vader followed out of his room to the bathroom and sensing Leia inside of it. The lack of falling water sounds told that no, she was not taking a bath.

_"Are you dressed decently, daughter of mine?"_

He asked through the Force bond, scratching one of his eyes while waiting for her answer outside the bathroom door of the **Lamb** **d** **a T-4a shuttle.**

 _"I am, Vader."_ Her voice had some frustration that Vader honestly didn't understand.

With all necessary warnings, Vader entered through the bathroom door and leaned against the available sink. His daughter had the word 'frustration' painted all over her face as she tried, with a comb, to untangle the all-mighty knots in her hair. Vader raised an eyebrow, watching her for a while. She was trying one of those strange hairstyles that Padmé loved so much, or just fixing her curls? In the last few days Leia kept her hair either loose or as a ponytail, the last one especially for their training sessions... But today is no ordinary day, today is the day they finally exit hyperspace.

Vader felt the need to go there and help her with her hair; after all, Padmé would always ask him to help her with fancy hairstyles when her maids were not around and, with pride, he could say that he was great at helping his wife in this matter... However, it wasn't Padmé there beside him, dressed in black clothes and with bundles of hair stuck on the black comb, it was indeed Leia; his hot-headed daughter that always seemed to want to do things on her own. Vader didn't like this trait at the beginning, but then he would remember a passage in the book 'How to be a good father' that said something like; 'children seek merit in getting things for themselves in an effort to get recognition from their guardians. Encouraging such behavior is of great importance,' Vader imagined that the best course of action was to let her do her hair without all the infinite tools and apparatus that a princess would have at her disposal.

Taking his toothbrush, Vader started brushing his teeth while keeping an eye on Leia most of the time so he wouldn't have to look at himself in the mirror. He just hates so much to look at himself.

"I added a few things to our shopping list." Leia said half-tired after a long sigh, throwing her comb to the side of the sink and starting to adjust her hair with her bare hands. Vader stared her in the corner, the brush inside his mouth.

 _"And what would it be?"_ he asked through the Force.

"Conditioning... Lots of conditioners; and hair cream; and Aldeeranian soap, those with the snow and cobblestone smell; a hair kit and manicure; a comm—“

 _"I must remind you that our credits are not in the five houses if that is what your princess mentality tells you, daughter of mine—far from it, truly. We must prioritize food and fuel... And you shall not possess a comm."_ Vader said with a tone of purpose, a buzz on the back of his mind bothering him greatly with the number of useless things his daughter was asking for. If she was born on Tatooine, these trivial things would never go over the pyramid of needs going from **water → fuel → food**... But, again, she is the daughter of a Naboonian queen. The amount of money Padmé used to spend on hair products could nourish and power an entire slave settlement for months in Tatooine...

"What?! Why not? I need a comm!" she said with her brown eyes stuck in the mirror, but the nascent anger sticking in the Force.

"Do you need it, or do you want it?" Vader asked rhetorically, spitting the foam out of his mouth and washing it with faucet water.

"I need it. A comm is necessary for us to have notions of news that happen in the Empire, the Rebellion and the galaxy in general—"

"And all your stuff on the internet, like pimping, idle and counterproductive searches." Vader was aware of how powerful the internet was, but only as an Imperial media for manipulation and tracking... And to watch pod-race videos and technological constructions. But the things Leia says occasionally sound so... Out of reality. How a frighteningly powerful means of information exchange, manipulation, and espionage can be used... for funny images and videos, for laughing stock? Vader had never understood.

"Well, we all need a break for good while; you watch those weird races—"

"Pod-race. And they're not weird, they're incredible."

"That's not my point, Vader." she pointed her toothbrush at him before sticking it in her mouth and commencing talking through the Force with her biological father. _"Yes, maybe I use it to kill some time in bed before I sleep, during my breaks or, you know, my spare time between training and study."_ her sarcasm almost made him frown his eyes. Almost. Leia saw she was losing points with her plea and took an approach in the bargain side. _"But there's merit in that, too. Many of them cover areas of research, monitoring, communication, and image sharing. Things I would use to better myself in my training as such as keeping an eye on the political side of the galaxy since it's part of my endgame plan, after all. So, with all things considered, might you see why a comm would be a wise development?"_ her persuasion tries disturbingly reminded him of Padmé who, very much pregnant, used to lecture him about the benefits of leaving at **0300** in the morning, Coruscant time, to buy three Nubian pizzas with peach topping, Hutt chocolateshake and a lot of Felucia's soda with 5x more sugar. Unlike Padmé, Leia wouldn't get her requests.

"Most of the functions you quoted are borderline useless. My words remain the same." He crossed his arms momentarily, before uncrossing them to floss and start cleaning his teeth.

 _"Ugh, you are impossible! Vaping dense head..."_ she growled with her mouth full of toothpaste, squeezing the toothbrush in her hand. Leia stopped for a moment when she noticed all the dark feelings starting to wrap around her neck and, softening her grip on the toothbrush, she cleaned her mind with a long, deep breath that sought out the emerging dark side inside her and quickly crushed its influence. Vader's chest filled with pride, practically ignoring all the slurs directed to him as he watched Leia's abysmal progress in controlling her emotions and hold onto the Dark Side using her will. She had great success when it comes to emotions in mundane situations... In battle, however.

"I'll look at the shopping list and keep what I think is necessary. Join me in the kitchen soon and we shall prepare our food together, as father and daughter!" Vader clenched his fist when he said this... Only realizing his words exactly when Leia sent a confused look at him, eyebrows furrowed. Vader turned his face away, hiding as much of the red as possible on his cheeks; he had a tendency to be... 'extra', as Leia called him when he spoke of doing something with her.

With a cough that killed the nascent silence between them, Vader said.

"I'll go ahead."

 _"Okay..."_ she said in the Force. As soon as Vader had finished drying his mouth on his face towel and walked out the door, Leia spoke loudly in the Force. _"Kriffing extra..."_

"I heard that." He fought back, making her notice that she had spoken it by the Force, a chill rising up through her body. She still had some good difficulties in differentiating speech by the Force and by the mouth—both she has used a lot since it is the only way to communicate with Vader.

 _"Good!"_ Eventually, Leia finished brushing her teeth, snorting as she looked at the state of her hair in the mirror and, well, of her whole body... She hated the fact that she was getting used to wearing all black clothes.

Well, time to join Vader in the kitchen.

* * *

"There is too much salt." Vader commented, his eyes stuck on his daughter. She frowned her eyes, crossing her arms and, with a cold stamped all over her face, speaking afterward.

"No, there is not."

"Yes, there is."

Dipping her finger in the dough, Leia took it to her mouth for a moment... Her tongue trembled and a worn-out sigh left her then. The droid beside them—who hadn't named it yet—dip a metal rod into the dough, analyzing the composition of the beige colored dough.

"This Nubian pancake dough sample contains 834.1% more salt than the original recipe says is necessary."

"This proves my entire point, daughter of mine." With a trump card, Vader moved his gaze from the droid to his daughter, Leia's beaten teeth saying she was not happy with this truth, her pride blocking her way of understanding. "You're as clumsy as you are stupid, daughter of mine. Waste of supplies of such high importance is something that should not be taken lightly and, above everything, you refuse to hear even the slightest of my coordination, your childish pride blinding you to the unseen truth—"

"I know, I know! You've told me this I don't know how many times in the last few days, Vader!" Leia said back, her anger beginning to bubble. Why couldn't he understand that is hard for her?! She barely cooked throughout her whole life! But he seemed to expect incredible dishes of perfect proportions in all three meals of the last four days they'd cooked together... It was a really strange thought, now that she noticed. She and Vader, daily, together in a kitchen and yelling at each other about the amount of something in the pancakes—she was lucky, at least, that they weren't just feasting of rations and water daily. Vader had ordered decent supplies as soon as he brought her to his base, the shipment on this same ship not having been unloaded upon arrival just a few minutes before the attack began—but he just expects so much from her! Perfect dishes, perfect results at training and studying... In normal circumstances, she would be ashamed of herself when it comes to her studies. She was doing badly in these last days. Kriff, she hadn't even made her questions to conclude her first lesson on the 'Way of the Sith' or something. Kriffing Vader, all those problems are his fault…

Vader also seemed very prone to always want to cook different things... And he ate so tastefully and energetic that he even spread this joy of eating to her and making meals, she dares to say, fun. _Kriff!_ They hadn't a single disagreement when it comes to eating together. Eating with your enemy... Teacher... And father... Uh, she hates so many things about her new life.

"All the times I've said it, it was your wrong. My punishments are well placed according to your mistakes, daughter of mine." Pushing the droid away with the Force, Vader walked to the frying pan in medium heat, sitting calmly on the oven and already greased. "Now, together, we will finish the pancakes, and then we will eat!... May you find the purpleneonicberries and the Wookie Syrup?"

Leia rolled her eyes, sighing as she moved to find the two items and soon after put both on the counter, a suspicious look to the Wookie Syrup... The smell is awful, but the taste is incredible; however, the expiration date always is undefined, but she quickly shrugged as she took an empty jug, Vader starting to pour all the mixed dough in the jug. The first pancake hit the metal sheet of the frying pan as an all messed-up circle.

"You could have done it better."

"It's a pancake, Vader." her frustration with this phase rose some octaves.

"You could have done this _pancake_ better." she rolled her eyes with a deep sigh. Kriffing Vader never is satisfied with anything she does.

It took some seconds to, while nibbling her lower lip, Leia decided to talk.

"Vader, about earlier today... I don't know if you really heard me when I talked about the advantages of having a comm—"

"I heard you loud and clear, daughter of mine. My answer remains; no." he poured some of the almost liquid dough into the pan after that sad excuse of a circle was done.

"Wait, don't 'no' me without hearing me first! There are many, many benefits—"

"No." the pancake was beginning to acquire a darker color and small holes in its surface... And Leia's anger was coming on the side of frustration born of how impossible irritating Vader could be.

"Listen to me, Vader! I have all rights to be heard and I will not give up on them just because of your lack of empathy!" speaking some good decibels louder, all Leia got was silence, a cold look from Vader and... the spinning movement of him using a spatula on the pancake. Kriffing Vader... The pancake had a great color, tho... But she soon took her dreamy eyes off the pancake still in preparation, ignored her stomach, and griping this cue after a few silent moments, continuing her speech. "A comm is the perfect tool for us to have a notion of the state of the Empire and the Rebellion; quotations about you, me, and even the Death Star are something we should know while we travel, outside and inside hyperspace. Now, again, I will use my comm for moments of free time—without external communications, of course—to entertain me... All these motives are plausible and I'm more than one hundred percent sure that we have the money to buy a comm."

Vader seemed to ponder, the spatula taking out the pancake and moving it to the plate on the counter next to the over... And Vader answered.

"No."

She wanted very, very much to take that pancake and smash it in his face... The tentacles rubbed against her skin and, forcing her anger into submission, Leia crushed the tentacles away using her feet. She wouldn't be dominated by anger, she can be content just with her thoughts, but she really can't fathom how much time she can hold her sanity after the way her life has turned since not even two weeks prior... Nevertheless, she's not the type to give up easily either. She'll have her much desired Icomm 143, a way or another.

* * *

Leia breathed deeply, a lost drop of sweat descending from her forehead as her lips pressed harder against each other... Shaking the handles in her hands, her darkened vision left everything around her for the imagination, the only noise in the room being the plasmatic resonance of three lightsabers. Of the many training’s that Vader made Leia go through, the one that left her most tense was the lightsaber; and for many different reasons, really... Every time she holds the weapon, those flaming golden eyes of the Inquisitor come back to her mind, the influence of the dark side becoming much more difficult to keep under her shoe and, strangely, waves and waves of thoughts started to pander her from the insides. Thoughts of power, of domination, desire for blood even, a quivering on the tip of her fingers imploring her to just kill something... She really hates these traits of the Force. In the abundant cold of the room that seemed to grow on the walls, Vader's voice echoed as if it came from all sides, a timbre making her skin shiver—Leia could see nothing, a black blindfold in her eyes.

"A lightsaber is seen as a symbol for the Jedi, created in a ritual as soon as they become a padawan. But make no mistake; a lightsaber means nothing. It is a weapon, a tool, and that is all. A weapon is used for a purpose and that purpose is to conquer, kill and mold things as you want them to be." The next words were spoken with some poisonous hatred, similar to the words he said to her in the hall all those days ago... there was something personal about it. "Don't develop your powers around a weapon, for there will always be times when you shall not have it at your disposal. Otherwise, use the weapon for your purpose, enslave it to your will. That weapon is your slave as is the Force, your true power is your focus, your mind." The sound of Vader's swinging blade echoed on the walls, heavy steps being taken as he seemed to walk around her. Leia moved her head confusedly, trying to follow his footsteps through the sound.

Suddenly, a loud plasma noise against metal frightened her, Leia moving away from the sound and almost stumbling. Firmly after recovering herself, she held the two lightsabers, both directed to where that metal sound came from.

"What was that?!" she asked, not daring to move her hand to raise the bandana. The last time she tried she almost tore a hole in her head with the lightsaber.

"An omen. It was inches from your foot and you didn't even saw it coming." Vader spoke with a taint of disappointment in his voice, but soon he softened, almost sounding against his will. "In a fight, your senses mean nothing; they even get in the way. Dive in the dark side to immerse yourself in a state of calm euphoria. Gather power, but do not lose your head. Use the power of the Force, your knowledge of the blades, and guide yourself with your mind. This is the definition of being ready for battle."

They had already done several similar training, with Leia using the Force to predict where projectiles and even Vader's blade were going to hit her and so having to deflect them with her blades. Squeezing the twin blades harder between her fingers, Leia recalled what her attempts to contest Vader's very dubious training modes had brought her, going from a scale of nothing to absolutely nothing.

Okay, she just had to deflect—blinded—Vader's extremely hot blade which, if hit her, would probably rip her hand off...again, blind. No pressure.

"Don't worry... I would never willful hurt you, daughter of mine." His voice came coolly; but the quick remnant she picked up from the Force didn't lie... Tenderness. She frowned in disgust as she felt these feelings of Vader for her. He shouldn't have fatherly endearment towards her, that's illegal... or something! An image of Bail came into her head as a way to calm her—but at that very moment, Vader attacked and the tentacles of darkness threatened to reach her, Leia only managing to move by a loud shout of the Force, expelling Bail's face to the back of her consciousness. "Focus on me, not on... Him" a note of disgust was shown in Vader words, his discomfort to the Aldeeranian Senator pretty much in flames... But Leia didn't like it when he called him a kidnapper, so he was trying to, to some degree, hid his hatred of the man to make her time with him more delightful, not filled with meaningless fights all the time.

"I am focused!" no, she wasn't. The Force alerted her again at the last second, the lightsaber in her left hand rising—Form I: The Sarlacc's path.

"I'll be the judge of that!" quickly, the blade attacked her right side, Leia moving the left sword to defend while already pulling to the left side and defending the 3rd attack of Shii-Cho. Quickly they passed at a slow-but not-so-low speed the six movements of Form I. Slow enough for her to learn, but not too slow to be too easy. Vader stopped once in a while to help Leia's fix some mistakes in her form; wrong feet positions, blades slipping away, lost thoughts that blocked her Force connection, most of the times much to Leia's chagrin, but Vader icy eyes and unbreakable will to teach her always made her follow his instructions... Not happy, but follow them even so. Soon a rhythm was established, Vader changing the attacks periodically to get her used to it and, by the wave of pride he hid deep in his heart, it could be said that Leia was showing great performance. It didn't take more than 50 attacks for her to enter a deep state of battle consciousness, his constant help connecting her to the Force being necessary less and less as the minutes passed.

Leia, however, always found it difficult to handle weapons. Her first time holding a blaster was quite frightening. She likes politics, democracy. A blaster meant war and war was what the Empire liked to exercise, the very breach in all sentient nature that made democracy so hard to maintain... yet, what always scared her most was how having a weapon in her hand seemed to come naturally to her. It was so easy to wield a blaster and hit an enemy in the distance for her. Even without seeing, she manages to hit the majority of her enemies with ease... Like some kind of sick, natural ability to take life. But lightsabers weren't blasters, they are much, much more dangerous. And even so, they seemed to belong to her little hands as she blindly defended Vader's blade, following only the commands of the Force, two thoughts echoing in her head.

_Keep your mind and use the Force._

_Keep your mind and use the Force..._

_Keep... your mind... and use the Force..._

_Destroy him—Keep your mind and... Destroy him._

_Destroy... Destroy him._

Vader's next attack was found with her right blade batting, taking his arm away while, with a forward bow, the left one aimed to rip Vader's upper body out. Heat emerged inside Leia as she attacked instead of defending. She had lost her line of thought for a moment!

Quickly lifting her saber, she tried to resume both thoughts.

_Keep your mind an—destroy him..._

No, the Force! She has to use the Force!

_... Use the Force... Destroy him._

But... She can do it. He is right in front of her and even blindfolded she can attack him and deflect. She has power... She can _destroy_ him.

_Destroy him... Destroy him..._

**No!** _Control_ , she must _control_ herself!... _Defeat him. Keep your mind. Use the Force_.

She felt the black tentacles rising up her legs, tying themselves around her arms... only to be crushed, smashed under her feet with determination. Leia's mind grabbed those tentacles and squeezed them until blood came out, power flowing through her body just as she resumed her attack on Vader. Her bloodstream began to heat up more and more, adrenaline pumping through her veins. Her feet settled on the ground and the Shii-Cho Form started to be mixed with the inherent will within Leia to massacre Vader with her pure power and show that her Force powers were to be recognized.

"Yes. enslave it! Use your true power, daughter of mine!" Vader exasperated steps backward as his blade defended Leia's. Her speed increased after his voice, sweat came down more often from both force users as the plasma noise hitting each other had ever shorter intervals.

Vader could not be prouder. Yes, he was holding hundreds of strands of the Force to Leia, but it was she who managed to tame the Dark Side. She managed to keep herself cold and strong in the face of the Dark Side's influence... But that doesn't mean she is powerful enough. If he let go of these threads, she would quickly be massacred and lose control, but 'baby steps', as the book he was reading had described. It was an evolution, one step further in her training and one that Leia should've been happy to take.

_Keep your mind. Defeat him. Use the Force._

_Beat him. Use the Force. Beat him._

The attacks were sloppy, barely engaging in a maneuver and her steps were all over the place wrong... But Leia has power, a frightening power. Each blow was filled with the might of the Dark Side running through her veins, the fervor of battle picking up her caution and superimposing a controlled desire for a massive victory. She was immersed in the fight, completely confident in the Force and unconsciously of her battle state. Leia is a rough diamond in both matters of lightsaber skills and use of the Force... He never tires of admiring his daughter and her unlimited potential, all times being just so heartwarming to know that all her power she got from him. Perhaps is a good idea to take the training one step further; so, gradually, Vader started to release the strands of the dark side throughout their Force Bond.

The moment he unleashed many of the threads of the Force he held, he could feel inside the very bone of his skull when the corruption of the Dark Side seized the eyes of Leia under the blindfold. Her attacks began to lose track, their bond slowly fading away as the dark side domination on her became too much... And he didn't like it a bit. It's her limit. They shall not proceed.

"The training is over." With a trembling, cold voice of purpose and fear—yes, fear—Vader pulled out Leia's right lightsaber with a harsh grip on her pulse using his right hand, a groan of pain coming out of her mouth, the left lightsaber flying away after a Force push, leaving Leia extremely confused and even somewhat scared. It took a couple of seconds before the situation started to make sense for Leia, as to Vader to notice the needles of pain coming from his daughter... The pain he was inflicting. Moving away just a bit as he maintained his eyes just for a moment on his hand holding Leia's pulse, Vader was quick to let it go. He swallowed dry, countenance devoid of any color. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to use this much strength." In face of his lack of judgment, Vader's voice was the most tamest Leia ever heard. Rubbing her reddish skin, she rapidly broke the silence.

"It's okay, Vader... What happened?" she asked, breathing liters of oxygen while fatigue hit her after a few good minutes of frantic movements.

"Reconnect yourself with the Force and calm your mind, daughter of mine," he demanded, arms crossed and face tightening as he made what he could to hide the regrets and memories that simple harsh grip brought to him. Leia slowly pulled the blindfold out, her eyes locked on Vader as her mind processed what happened to her.

"I... It was so sudden... One second I had complete hold of the dark side." she started, stumbling in the words occasionally. "And then... Then I became just like her in a matter of moments. So many thoughts of killing, of power of..." Vader, hesitating, put one of his hands, the flesh one, on Leia's shoulder. At first glance, she thought of veer away from him, but she didn't in the end... His touch had that odd warmth that always seemed to help her settle her mind.

"No. She was fully trained, you aren't and yet you fought the Dark Side's influence long and steady, showing great determination and a crescent power." Vader lugs his hand after leaving a last firm grasp, his arms crossed once again, his lightsaber handle resting in the hook of his waist, eyes caught in Leia as she maintained her eyes closed, eyebrows frowned... Vader could feel her seeking the Force and this time he did not help her.

Leia puck her frown and had trembling feelings for almost a minute, the cold of the room being tempered with the fervent emotions of the training. Still, she calmed down enough for all the adrenaline to fade from her blood, eyes of pure chocolate staring at Vader's golden sulfuric.

"Am I okay? You know... No yellow eyes."

"Yes, you're fine. No yellow eyes." Leia sigh relieved, hand against her training shirt. Has she said how much she hates the clothes Vader gave her? Even the little strap she was wearing to hold her hair in a ponytail was black, for the love of the stars. "You improve at a frightening rate. There have been no such abysmal documents of progress since the time of Exar Kun while the Great Sith war." Breathing with a smirk of presumptuous pride, Vader clenched one of his fists, an icy drama in his voice. "This is the power of the blood that runs through your arteries, daughter of mine!"

"Uhum, incredible!. Bloodline, power!" she shook both hands in the air, face full of apparent sarcasm as she wipes the sweat off her chin, turning to where her two lightsabers—well, the previous owner died... so they are hers now—and, as soon as she went to get them, a strong nudge of the Force stopped her, obviously coming from Vader. "What is it, Vader?"

"Concentrate."

_"Huh?"_

"Concentrate." He was being weird again... She should make a percentage chart about Vader, it probably would help her in her everyday life. 10% of the time, Vader was quiet and stoic; 30%, he was being dramatic; 50%, he was talking about the Force and the Dark Side while being dramatic; and the 120% he was being very, very cringe. Because putting up with Darth Vader was not 100%, he was insisting on being kriffing 200% in her life. "When I say 'concentrate', it means leaving these unpleasant thoughts in the back of your mind and seeking the Force."

Leia rolled her eyes, an innate instinct to show her tongue to him... But she didn't do it.

Finally, taking a deep breath, she sought to connect with the Force—a type of allegory to organize her thoughts and seek feelings that would give her power. Vader instructed her to go after anger, anguish, and humiliation to draw attention to the dark side more easily and, in this way, trap it with her powers—it took a few more seconds before he continued speaking.

"Can you see with the Force both lightsabers? The Force imbued the false crystals, made in human forges."

Leia raised an eyebrow at this information. Fake crystals? She had to ask later. Still yes, it was extremely easy to find both lightsabers a few meters from where she was standing.

"Pull them for you, use the Force, daughter of mine."

She... could she do that? Yes, she could push with the Force if she concentrated, but pull with the Force? That was new and she hesitated... Her hesitation began to diminish when Vader's warm hand gently squeezed her shoulder, reminding her of that same warm sensation when she pushed those stormtroopers times ago. Again, as he said earlier, the power of the Force is infinite.

Leia raised both hands towards each lightsaber, the air rapidly thickening around father and daughter... She could feel the lightsabers, red flickers in the Force blackened with the power of the dark side coming especially from Vader, impregnating the whole ship. Using the exercises that Vader made her go through every day of 'imagining the Force', which was to figure things happening while using the Force, Leia began to imagine the lightsabers coming into her hands…

She held her breath when one of the lightsabers flew directly to her hand, her fingers pressing quickly of surprise and thus making her lose her concentration and, in the process, losing the left one in the Force as it landed with a powerful blow against her forehead.

"Ow!" she screamed, opening her eyes and seeing the lightsaber spinning in the air after hitting her. Quick in thought, Leia moved to pick up the lightsaber in the air, succeeding with a few difficulties; but still succeeding! "Did it! I used the Force to pull them!" her newfound excitement suppressed the headache, a smile of triumph spreading across Leia's face. It was always marvelous to do some miraculous feat using the Force.

"To some extent, I would say yes." Vader said in a tone almost resembling enjoyment, hand raised to the droid who was only watching in the corner of the small training room. The water bottles flew until they stood between Leia and Vader, actively levitating.

"I could have led them to you..." the droid grumbled and Vader promptly ignored.

"Now." Leia began, taking one of the bottles and having a quick sip. "I've been doing really well in my training, haven't I?

"Yes, it's a fact." Vader took the bottle to his mouth, taking too long with his lips on the spout, but barely drinking the water itself... It was a habit she noticed in him, one that showed a constant economy of fluid. But why? No idea. Still, she should have expected he could see her plan before she even put it to work, soon speaking with sharpness on his tongue "But that doesn't encompass your studies. You have been inattentive and relaxed in the theoretical part since we entered this ship. I intend to see improvements in the future, especially if you are so eager to use your personal growth as a coin to gain something material from me."

She bit her tongue, the urge to curse and punch him starting to boil inside her... But she didn't say or do anything, controlling herself as she analyzed Vader's words. She didn't study any of the material that Vader had organized for her, just as her attention span in Vader's lectures about the dark side and the sith story proved short.

But what could she do? Her head is a mess nowadays, full of thoughts all the kriffing time! The Rebellion, the Empire, the Death Star, the Force, her bloodline... Everything was stirring inside and recent experiences were no help at all. Her life had changed too fast, too violently. Still, whenever she reviewed all this, she could only feel shame; she was giving excuses.She had to complete her training as soon as possible to return to the Rebellion and stop the damage of the Empire. Procrastinating and not studying was going to slow it down a lot... But come on, she needs something to make her head lighter or she will kriffing have a meltdown. Kriffing Vader's fault.

"How about you let me buy a comm?"

"No." he was about to turn around, his answer cold and definite... But Leia didn't care about that kind of bantha poodoo. Moving around Vader, she stopped in front of him and put her finger against the blond's chest, stopping his steps. She saw Vader's face become more irritated and again she didn't care.

"No, really! Listen here! I need something fun, Vader! I need some rest, some thermal spring to maintain my mind and sanity in this hellish of a life!"

"A comm is not the—"

"I know what's good or not for me, I'm an adult! And a comm is all I need to make my head lighter! Think with me for just a minute." she took a tone of bargaining in her voice. "if I have a comm, I could relax and have a 10x better working head than I do now. My head is now full of chaotic emotions, feelings, and stress and you know why, all kinds of things that make the Dark Side wants to possess me or something! Without all this, I would have a focused and strong mind, be much more attentive in my studies, and evolve my power in the Force even better than now! There are a lot more pros to this move than there are cons, Vader. Please... I just want to have a good time." her voice had a pinch of need she added for good measure; even if she doesn't like, because she does not, Vader is her father. So, he might be more willing to do things for her if she asks in the pretty-please way. Nothing says more 'Senator' than emotional manipulation.

Vader narrowed his eyes, staring deep into hers. Leia stared back with the same intensity, an animation growing deep in her mind. He was hesitating, he was hesitating... And when she saw him frowning his eyes, sighing deep and scratching his unshaven beard, she knew she had won.

"I will _think_ about it."

Oh, she is incredible and she kriffing knows it! It wasn't the yes she was looking for, but it was already a great start because, after all, she just had discovered what is possibly a humongous breach in Vader's defenses he might don't even know exists; he is prone to emotional manipulations if she adds correct amounts of the needy daddy's girl aspect... It's ironic that this same strategy always worked with Bail too. Not wanting to show this nascent hope, she hid her smile behind a satisfied political face, taking her finger away from Vader's chest and correcting her posture.

"Good."

She said simply and quickly, turning and walking out of the training room, the droid moving to follow her. Vader rolled his eyes as he watched her back; she had more and more of her mother the more he looks... He likes it. But, in the back of his mind, other questions were ruminating; Why did young people love the internet so much, what was the appeal? He would never understand something like that... Still, if it made his daughter happy and helped her as much as she said, then perhaps he could provide one for her.

Maybe he'll buy one for her when they get to Utapau.

* * *

The Emperor was... Discontented. His fingers tightened the arm of his upholstered throne, his golden eyes staring into the deep space outside the window of the Death Star... So young and already had a strong connection to the dark side, the smell of darkness impregnated in its very walls, walls bathed in the blood of thousands of slaves, cries of pain and tears of those same... together with those, the most prominent smell was the thick shadow that Vader's bloodbath left behind. Sidious imagined that his former pupil had weakened considerably after feeling affection for the Skywalker child.

But... Oh... the first moment he stepped on the dark metal sheets that formed most of the floors of the Death Star, he could feel Vader in everything. His hatred, his anger, his pain, his sadness—all that the slave who recovered his young body left behind. First, he delighted and emerged in the power of the dark side, all the soldiers who were there for his arrival quickly feeling much more uncomfortable with the heavy atmosphere, the air almost polluted as it entered their lungs.

Then Sidious began to feel angry... envious.

So much power _—so much darkness—_ and Vader leaves it behind, all for one miserable child... Anakin was very much alive inside Vader, even after his endless efforts to kill the little hero of the Republic... That was a flaw that bothered Sidious too much. It wouldn't make significant changes in his plans because, anyway. The Death Star was already alive in all its splendor of darkness, throbbing to blow up some sad and lonely planet in this universe that now belonged to him. Anakin was a stone in his shoe, not even being worthy of his Sith name, and he would eventually be dealt with.

Now... There was an interesting development.

He suspected it was taking too long, but it happened anyway;

Anakin Skywalker, the Hero of the Republic and a Jedi Knight during the Clone Wars, was seen on security cameras, rescuing Leia Organa, now an Imperial fugitive and Rebel ally alongside Skywalker. There has not yet been any pronunciation of the Empire or the Rebellion about this matter.

All media. Holo-news, internet, obscure lines of communication scattered around... Everywhere, the discovery of this inevitable fact was echoing. It all started with leaked images from some Imperial bank where these images were stored, just a few frames and a short video being retrieved before Imperial intelligence could stop anything more from being stolen. Most were empty security camera images, so they didn't get much potential with those... But there is one that gets all the attention; the video.

The video is really short, just about 9 seconds. Skywalker's back appears as he runs between red blaster shots, the princess trapped on his back visibly passed out, some entries saying she was dead, but the Emperor knows better; if the girl was dead, Vader rage would echo throughout all the galaxy and soon enough the Force itself would suffer blow after blow as the little slave runs wildly across the galaxy after losing the last living piece of that mischievous wife of his, quenching his existential pain with blood... Sidious couldn't fathom the power he would hold if he could slave Vader again in this form. Back to the video; with something rudely similar to a lightsaber—a pipe, it was found near where his ship had left—Vader fought back the shots to the troopers and executed some with clunky bashes when he got close enough, the last frames being his face after a spin; Anakin Skywalker's perfect view.

The developments this little video had are many and Sidious has spent the last hours wondering how this would affect his plans and the galaxy...

Skywalker was a force to be reckoned with. Letting him walk around, recovering his power and movements, could be Sidious's fall if he doesn't trot carefully. The first Inquisitor who found him wanted to leave immediately to go kill him, the girl too blind to think of any better idea than to go face to face with his ex-apprentice with full force... His death was not a loss, anyway. Thousands of troops are being moved, millions of thorns and cameras spread. Any trace of Skywalker will be captured, either ocular or mechanical... And once he finds him, Sidious will be able to kill two rabbits with just one shot; for depending on which planet Skywalker falls to, very expected one from the Outer Rim, Sidious will finally bring to public knowledge his weapon of destruction and triumph to maintain forever his everlasting Sith Empire.

How ironic. Vader, always so hateful about the greatness of his Death Star... It will be the cause of its first interplanetary shot as something complete.

Now, the Emperor had a smile of scorn on his face.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! Let's see what happened in this chapter, shall we? Vader is pretty much trying his best to make Leia's life better with him (including her in activities and spending time with her, even studying a book to understand better her as his daughter) but he is a doofus and hardly can see how messed her life has gotten, but we will get there in this part. Leia is trying to cope with her new life of training and the Force in general, but the stress is rising each day and it's becoming harder and harder to resist the Dark side, even if she tries her best to maintain her head cool. Palpatine is plotting as always.  
> I'm going to make Leia use primary the Shii-Cho form because is the best Vader can do for now (he is recuperating his movements, but his fighting-style is an entirely different thing) and, as Kreia's said; "Its simplicity its biggest strength", so a simple form, easy to 'master' is the notorious best choice for Leia.  
> Leia finding a way to emotionally manipulate Vader is canonically a trait of the Dark Side, change my mind!  
> Oh, and what about a "Father-Daughter Instagram/Twitter account as they travel the galaxy visiting a lot of places and doing a lot of stuff" sounds cool?  
> Next chapter we are going to have two new characters and Leia using the Force... for evil!  
> Sorry for any language mistakes, I'm trying my best! Thank u for your time, see you next time.


	7. Leia doesn't spare credits and Vader has a bad feeling about shopping with her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hope u guys like it!

Luke Skywalker thought it was strange to have so much time on his hands. His lightsaber training and meditation session had already ended, Han won't let him touch anything in the Millennium Falcon and Ben took some time for himself to rest, saying that his elderly body couldn't stand the effort of training another 'energy bomb of a padawan for long periods', whatever this means... So, Luke only had his outdated comm to kill time for now. Like a moisture farmer born on one of the cruelest planets of the Outer Rim, Luke's time was derived from helping his uncle with the vaporizers, studying to attempt to enter the imperial air forces, and making his needs. It was a difficult and arid life, but he could not complain as in the words of his Aunt Beru; "he was the first Skywalker not to be born a slave". Looking at the metal ceiling of his room at the Millennium Falcon, Luke left his aged comm resting on his chest.

These words from his aunt always leave him thinking about his father, especially now that he knows the truth about the man; a powerful Jedi knight who fought in the Clone Wars beside Obi-wan Kenobi but died at the hands of Darth Vader. A Jedi knight, even though at the beginning of his life he had been a slave... Bringing a smile to his lips, Luke imagined that if his father could go from rags to riches, he could too. Slowly, Luke's thoughts wandered away and he went back to messing around with his comm, the bad Internet signal of the Millennium Falcon was not as bad as Tatooine's, so he had little to complain about.

However, amid his scrolling through pictures of ships and technological devices, Luke had to stop immediately when his eyes caught a name; **Skywalker**... Jedi Knight **Anakin Skywalker.** His look of surprise was such and he only stopped for a moment to frown before quickly clicking on the article that had his father's full name on the headline, arranging himself on the bed a bit astonished. He never imagined seeing his father's name just thrown around the internet... Anakin. His father's full name is Anakin Skywalker. Sounds so cool.

With wide eyes, Luke read the headline once and twice, his eyes picking up the cover image at the end. The image was of a camera and it was kind of shaky, the colors empty, but he didn't really care; that man was his father... He had never seen him before. He could see he has long hair, a strong chin, and sharp eyes, and damn, that was his father!

" _By the stars..._ " that's all Luke managed to comment on, rolling down the article and stopping at a video attached in the middle of the page. A video of his father... he clicked it with the best example of 'the fastest click of the Jundland'. It had no sound, but Luke was more and more amazed every time he replayed it. His father had invaded the Imperial base and rescued that princess who appeared on the recording that Artoo had shown all those days ago, just like a brave and incredible Jedi would have done... And then he was fighting with the lightsaber. It seemed clunky, but it was just so incredible! He would swing and spin, sending the shots back to the stormtroopers. His father is out there, roaming the galaxy saving princesses and doing cool stuff with the Force and a lightsaber!

Soon enough, Luke was fully engaged in everything that had the name "Anakin Skywalker", trying to find out all he could about the man who until then was only a distant idol, his admiration increasing in every little piece of information; the Hero with no Fear, darkened images of him, extremely old or blurry—others in exceptional conditions—going through droid fields during the Clone Wars, standing imposingly next to two clones, talking to some politician in extravagant clothes. All those information appearing out of nowhere and the oldest he got was from 4 hours before he picked up his comm, all scattered around the internet.

It didn't take long for Luke to be immersed in various conversations spread out over several forums, reading accounts of people who knew his father and even seeking information from where he was currently, all nourished by a crescent desire to be at the side of the man.

Time went by and he only realized how many hours he spent lying there on the hard mattress with the comm very close to his face when the metal door opened and a tired but delightful voice called out his name.

"The Force sings around you, Luke. Having fun?" Ben commented, both hands hidden in his Jedi dressing gown. Luke looked at him for a moment, his euphoric smile making Obi-wan raise one of his eyebrows.

"Ben, you won't believe it!" Luke started very excitedly, swallowing something down his throat as he realized how dry it was. On Obi-wan's side, the Force shook with these words from Luke, a bad feeling pervading his tongue... The facial shift from curious calm to sudden fear of the old Jedi master couldn't be resisted when the young man's next words came. "My father is alive... Anakin Skywalker is alive!"

Ben... Let a tired sigh come out of his mouth, one of his hands leaving the inside of his sleeve and crawling across his aged face by the two suns of Tatooine. Luke stared at him with anticipation as the old man, still silent, sat on the edge of his bed with some effort, his joints aching. Weighing his words carefully as he stared into Luke's blue eyes, so similar to his father's before the fall, Obi-wan began.

"How did you know?" he asked and Luke, oblivious to Obi-wan's thoughts, took the comm with a big smile on his face.

"I've been doing a lot of research recently! No one knows where he came from or why he's turned up now, but my dad invaded an Imperial military base and—found it! Here, look." Delivering his comm into Obi-wan's hands, the old man faced the screen without much expectation. However, it didn't take him more than a few moments for his tired face to be consumed by complete shock, all the color leaving him for one moment for in the next one, everything in Obi-wan's face began to scream 'pain'. Luke oddly looked at Obi-wan, his own body trembling a little as he felt the change in the air.

Obi-wan knew that Vader had suddenly become incredibly stronger. He felt in the Force the moment that the explosion of darkness had engulfed even that of the Emperor... But he had no idea that Vader was young once again, that was totally new and rather confusing. However, he hadn't time to think about it because his eyes hit Anakin's jovial face and he was immediately carried away by sad nostalgia; he had his jaw firmly closed and his eyes looking around as an experienced warrior would do, something resembling a lightsaber in his hands. It was the same face and posture he kept on the battlefield while destroying droids, teaching Ahsoka, and saving the Republic every single day... The same face he had while both of them fought side by side as the perfect team, always guaranteeing each other back.

With trembling hands, Obi-wan put the comm softly in Luke's hands, his other hand going to his whitish beard and hiding his quivering lips, eyes turning away from the boy who looked so much like his father. He couldn't watch it anymore. It was too much.

"Ben…"

"Luke, listen to me." Pausing for a moment to take a deep breath while pressing his teeth tightly and doing everything in his reach to not start crying in front of the boy, Obi-wan continued his words. He could do it later in his bed, as he always does. "I see now that I cannot train you."

For a few moments, all Luke could do was slowly open his eyes, eyebrows down and face of total confusion.

"B... But why, Ben?!"

"I thought my experience would be all you needed to become a Jedi, but I was wrong and I can perfectly see this now." facing just one last time the miniaturized image of Anakin spinning what looked like a lightsaber, he allowed himself to remember only for a moment the mastery of his young student with the weapon and compared it to now; it was incredibly far from what Anakin could do. "You do need another Jedi master, and I can imagine two who might accept you."

"Are there more Jedi out there besides you and my father?" he still seemed shocked, his mind slowly processing the new information.

"Yes." Ben's tone was sad. "Yes, there are other Jedi. Cal Kestis is an acquaintance of mine, a powerful Jedi master with a personality similar to yours... And Ahsoka Tano, your father's former student. One of these could train you to become a Jedi, not a failure." the distant tone caught Luke's attention. Obi-wan seemed to read in Luke's features and, with a difficult voice, he started searching for some way to tell the terrible truth... It was the last thing he could do before going towards his doom. He could try to fight Vader, but he knows that he will only find death in this endeavor... Still, dying is necessary to save Leia from the clutches of the Dark Side.

Obi-wan stared Luke deeply in the eye, the latent pain he had stored for all those years rolling around inside his stomach. He could see all that was his brother's and all that was Padmé's on that face, now so full of confusion and uncertainty.

"You see, Luke... I didn't tell you the whole truth about your father. And, for the sake of the future, you deserve to know about him. Anakin Skywalker..." Obi-wan stopped, the memories overwhelming once more. Luke was polite enough to not talk and, moments later, the old man continued. "He was indeed a powerful Jedi and possessed an independent personality, cunning and, unfortunately, very impatient. From the moment he entered the Order, he was already destined for great things... but not as a Jedi. Your father had very little at the beginning of his life—.“

"He was a slave..." Luke commented, grooming uncomfortably in bed.

"Yes, he was. He had few as a slave and, for that, he loved everything with passion. This mentality never left him, however. He loved Ahsoka too much, they were practically inseparable. He loved your mother too much, even though he couldn't show it publicly—"

"What?" Luke seemed lost in that particular sentence. "Why not?"

"Jedi can't have attachments nor love, Luke—it leads to the Dark Side of the Force and it's a giant risk to form and nourish them. Your father never followed this rule; truth, he never followed the majority of the Jedi Code."

"This sounds like bantha poodoo... Sorry for the language." Luke seemed uncertain to speak those words, not being able to look the old man in the eye, and yet there was a fire behind how he said them. As if the idea of not having any attachments was total and utter nonsense to him. It remembered Obi-wan of someone...

"You think like your father, Luke." It was a phrase Luke hoped to be covered with pride but came only with... pity? "My point is that your father loved too much and that was forbidden, so he had to keep it all to himself. Then, he lost his mother days before the start of the Clone Wars. "Luke's loud sigh indicated his surprise. "During the Clone Wars, he unjustly lost his padawan, Ahsoka... And then, he was going to lose your mother and, at the same time, you. It was too much for your father. He couldn't talk to the Jedi about it and, in extension, nobody." With an air of shame, Obi-wan faced the ground. "He didn't even try to talk with me, thinking that I wouldn't understand..."

"And... would you?"

"No... I wouldn't. But I would do try to help him anyway... Still, his confidence in the Jedi was very low. Anakin entered the Order in a very rough way and his personality was considered invalid of trust for the Jedi. The Jedi Council never explicitly trusted him and he didn't try to seek that trust... In the end, the only person Anakin could seek was Chancellor Palpatine... Darth Sidious."

"Darth Sidious, Palpatine... Like Darth Va—" Luke stopped his sentence, his face pale and an air of euphoria took over. "But doesn't that make this Sidious, the Emperor, a Dark Lord?! Why did my father go after him?"

"No one knew about it at the time and, I doubt it, Anakin didn't either. It was only in the end, after years of manipulation, that the truth was revealed... Sidious's net of manipulations was very extensive and went deep inside your father. To save you and your mother, your father killed the Jedi he once was, betrayed the entire order, and became..." Obi-wan stopped. These are hard words to speak and when he said them, they came out totally grounded in shame and guilt. "Darth Vader."

* * *

Leia stared uncomfortably inside the eyes of the man of an unrecognizable specie in front of her, covered by several rags and full of scars that confused her to what he exactly was, the only physical indication is that he is massive... He was soon speaking to her with a rough accent but kinda understandable.

"Certified Imperial ship is 30 credits, smuggled is 80. And that thing." he pointed at the Lambda. "Is clearly not certified. Do you have the serial number?"

Looking to the side under the black hood, Leia verified in the Force that Vader was observing her profusely a few meters away, rhythmically stirring something in the external hyperdrive part of the ship, the nameless droid holding various tools beside him. Vader simply sent negation through the Force.

"We don't have the serial number." The spaceport manager, she guesses, seemed to mock her, crossing his two arms as he murmured something that sounds like 'typical', looking to his side before locking his gaze upon her. Leia wanted to stare back and speak with her usual bossy voice, but Vader was very clear for them to not stare nor speak too much with people... She understands why, so she agreed with him.

"Then it will be 120." Leia saw from the corner that some old security droids stared at her, hands holding blasters rifles wide open.

 _"Vader, what if it doesn't work?"_ she asked mentally, one hand starting to reach into the back pocket of her black cape to buy some time.

 _"It will, daughter of mine. The man's mind is weak enough. Visualize your desire in the Force and penetrate his mind, give the command and it will be done. The Force is your slave and will react as you command."_ Leia hadn't so much faith in this plan. So much could go wrong... She could fail to use the Force, the droids could notice her not paying, someone may notice and, and... _"Calm your mind. Stay focused. Your focus is your reality... Nothing will happen to you, I won't let it."_ A ghost hand landed on her shoulder, replacing Utapau's abrasive heat with a softer, calmer one that almost made her sigh... More confident in herself, Leia took her hand from behind her cape slowly, showing that she was not armed, a small bag between her fingers. She trained in the Force, Vader even said she is a natural prodigy... She can do this.

" _You won't charge me anything._ " She whispered, passing her hand holding the bag in front of the man's eyes, trying to visualize him fulfilling her wish. For just one suffocating second, the man stared at her... and then he acquired a zombie-like gaze, repeating with a dead voice.

"I won't charge you anything." He said and seriously, it was like a few good tons being taken off her shoulders. She did it—and she was almost melting on the ground as the fear of failure came out of her like water escaping a faucet.

"Thank you." She said shivering, turning like a robot and marching towards Vader, trying to hide her gigantic smile. "Hey, Hayden..." she called him when she got close enough, the codename being one they exchanged early with the reason to not reveal their identities... After all, going around calling him 'Vader' wasn't going to catch on.

"Say it, daughter of mine." He said without looking at her, welding something.

"I did it."

"Yes, you did."

"V-Hayden... I don't know if you saw that, but I manipulated that guy with the Force!" she whispered in total animation, moving from one foot to the other unconsciously. Everything she did with the Force in the past days was most physical and to herself... But to manipulate the mind of one using just her thought? She felt more powerful than ever! With this technique, the things she could do... She could stop warlords from killing people, she could free slaves, she could destroy cartels, she could control the minds of politicians and people of power to stand by the Rebellion... She could manipulate worlds to do whatever she wanted... Such immense power at her very fingertips, just waiting to be used. A wave of inherent anger in her heart began to rise when the image of Bail and Breha appeared in her head; they denied her such useful and devastating power in the political field... They limited her so much... They must hate her for doing this kind of travesty or, simply, they are jealous of the potential and things she can do and that inferior folk like them can't—

With wide-eyed eyes, Leia felt cold when she noticed her thoughts. Quickly, she exploded into a flash of consciousness, frightening the Dark Side's tentacles away, grabbing them and putting them under her feet as she closed her eyes and forcefully swept her way to meditation, back against the metal of the ship. The Dark Side was near and was more and more strong to fight against and leash... But eventually, Leia reopened her eyes to the grey atmosphere of Utapau.

"Your progress always abismastes me, daughter of mine." Vader commented, closing with a strong knock the hatch of the hyperdrive wiring, wiping the sweat from his forehead and hair hidden by the black hood.

"How long did I take?"

"42 minutes. Usually, young people take hours in meditation to clear their minds by themselves."

"So... you didn't help me?"

"No. You pushed the Dark Side away by yourself. It's good progress, but there's a long way to completely master your feelings as well as arming them to serve you. On the Way of the Sith, you've taken only a few steps." getting up, Vader began to walk towards the exit of the spaceport, his legs moving much better, but not exactly what is expected of an ordinary human. Leia followed close and the droid did his best to accompany them.

Still, Leia couldn't think much about her surroundings while walking; that phrase from Vader caught her a little too much, especially considering her small fall earlier today—she trembled just remembering the dark side running through her veins so freely—Yes, she was never trained in the Force... But what if someone other than Vader trained her? Would she have ended up like that inquisitor, a den of unbridled hate and anger, slave of the dark side? Or would she have been removed from her parents as a baby and grown up to deny love, to be a shell of a person like a Jedi?... In a way, weighing all her 'options', to be trained as a Sith—she still hates this word—that enslaves the dark side and not the other way around? That seemed to be the best of options.

She was really walking the Way of the Sith; a great enemy of the Republic since ancient times... But she would be the first of all the Sith to be an ally of the Republic—kriff, she would dethrone the Emperor and bring democracy back to the galaxy, Sith or not she does prefer the Republic to anything else.

This brought her to think about her 'first lesson', as Vader said: What are the flaw in the code of the Sith and the Jedi that makes them both fail as an Order? He didn't say it like that, but that's how she understood it... She hadn't yet found the answer...

Suddenly she was taken out of her mind when something hit her.

"Watch it, kriff!" The female voice screamed at her after Leia, immersed in her head, bumped into her. Leia fought for a second to remain in her feet, observing the person she stumbled on, a teenage girl about 15 years. She was dressed in decaying robes and had a hostile look in her brown eyes, surprisingly human. Humans are the race with the lowest poverty numbers in the galaxy, but in an Outer rim world that doesn't seem to matter.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to—"

The girl positively ignored her, not interested a bit in her excuses, and was about to walk away, fixing her jacket in the meantime... However, she seemed surprised when a powerful hand clamped around her by the wrist and pulled her, Vader quickly grabbing the blaster hidden in the girl's belt and throwing it to Leia who, with bulging eyes, barely caught it.

"Hayden, what—"

"I think I gave you too much credit, daughter of mine." Vader squeezed the girl's wrist with his flesh hand and made her scream in pain, her knees weakening and, with the metal hand, started to look for something inside the girl's shirt, her eyes coming out at the same moment of the confusion and pain to irritated shock.

"Stop it, sleemo bastard! Somebody helps me, rapi—" the strangers who walked around of what she thinks was a spice market just turned their heads and refused to look... And there were lots of people. Leia was baffled at this, all the more so when Vader slapped the girl in the face, holding her neck tight afterward.

"Be quiet, dirty pickpocket." He silenced her and, in the next moment, took a black bag out of her shirt, shocking Leia even more.

"Hey, that's my wallet!"

"Yes, it is." Throwing the wallet to his daughter, Vader without further ado pushed the young girl away who, holding her red cheek and coughing at the strength Vader choked her neck, looked at them with salty tears in her furious eyes, standing and rushing away and disappearing in an alleyway, everything happening too fast for Leia's mind to process. Vader seemed anything but affected by this episode, resuming his walk without much worry.

Leia, still in a stupor, took a moment to put her wallet back in place and put the blaster in her belt, checking the safety lock just for precaution.

"That was cruel..." Leia let slip, walking next to Vader and fixing her hood to hide her brownish wicks, eyes running around and noticing that a good amount of pairs of eyes were now trapped on them. That just made her pull her hood a little more in front of her face.

"I did the least possible to that petty thief. I could have done way worse."

"You humiliated her in public." Leia whispered outraged and, in fact, uncertain as to how she felt about this particular action by Vader. Yes, she does hate thieves and theft... But Vader not only stopped her and took her wallet; he hurt her, made her cry, and even stole her weapon, which is something extremely important in places like... this one. She faced her surroundings a bit more, the smell of rust and old tin, as well as foreign cooking, conversations in various languages, overcrowding of people of various species, and closed structures... Everything had an air of Outer Rim. It disgusted her, honestly.

"I see that your prejudice with planets of the Outer Rim is in pair." She blushed a little, annoyed that Vader read her thought—it's not as if she hadn't already said how much of an invasion of privacy that was... But it was Vader she was talking to, at the end of the day—and, well, ashamed that he used the word prejudice. Yes, she's from a core planet, so her vision on the Outer Rim planets has always been of inferior and out of schedule planets... Something she wanted to change in the new Republic she's aiming for. "And, about humiliating her? Again, I could have done worse things."

"Like?"

"Selling her as a slave is a good start. I had total power over her and I don't need a second look to identify six slaveholders just on your right side of the street." Leia's body trembled a little as he said these words, not wavering a moment in his walk. "Now, let's stop this idle talk about the scum. We have important things to do."

She really wanted to continue the conversation as there was much to dispute Vader. However, the time and place were very bad... Maybe when they are back on the ship?

Well, time to go shopping with Vader.

* * *

"Va—Ug... Hayden, which one do you think is better?" Leia asked while holding two packs of shampoo in her hands. Vader stared deeply at her eyes, a shopping basket on his durasteel arm.

"Both are shampoo, I'm afraid there's no difference." Vader was pondering if it has been a really good idea to go out and make shopping with Leia. Supplies like water, gas, and fuel he had already bought in the spaceport during the time his daughter was in deep meditation, so all that was missing were the most common things on the shopping list, like food and her miscellaneous makeup... The last one proved that Leia is Padmé's daughter to the very edge. His wife he understands; she had to look beautiful because she was an active politician... But what was Leia's fixation for always wanting to look pretty?

"How rude, of course not! This one has higher levels of Neimoidian salt." she raised the one on the right then. "But this one is cheaper, so I can take more of them... Which one should I choose?" she wondered, losing a tired sigh from Vader.

"Take one of each, if you fail to find answers for yourself."

"One of each, are you crazy? Until the next stop, it will be more and less eighteen days. I need more than just two bottles of shampoo."

"Our credits are not—"

"—infinite, we have to save and yadda, yadda, yadda..." she rolled her eyes, finally deciding and hurling two of the most expensive shampoos and three of the cheapest into the basket. "If we want to save credits we have just to use that mental trick." She said with a little smile, only then realizing what she had said seconds later. Kriffing dark side is messing around with her head! "Forget I said that it would be stealing.

"Actually, it sounds like a good plan to me." Vader commented with arms crossed, a calm smile on her face.

"We're not stealing from ordinary people, Hayden!"

"With the price of shampoo being 1/10 of the price of a ship parking lot, I would apply a saying from the place where I was born; "Thief thieving thief has 100 years of forgiveness." Leia was surprised to hear him speak, even so vaguely, of the place he came from... And now that she thinks, where did Vader come from?

"Where were you born, by the way?"

"This is a question... I rather prefer not to respond, daughter of mine." he didn't face her when he said it, the tip she needed to know it was uncomfortable for him. But... he's been making her life constantly uncomfortable, not hurting a bit of retribution, right?

"I just want to know more about you. Please?" There was truth in that sentence, but the whole way she spoke was just a plot of techniques that she started to develop after that episode earlier in lightsaber training. Vader stared at her a little harder and Leia stared back and again, when he sighed heavily, she saw that she had won and forced herself to hide the fun with it. It was so easy to control Vader with small gestures of affection.

"I was born in a place called Tatooine."

She... didn't expect that. She felt a momentary disgust when she realized that her blood came from someone born in such a rotten place, the thought soon dying when she noticed it, filling herself with horror. Where did this sudden prejudice come from? Was the dark side really messing with her world view, or was this Imperial characteristic contagious? She hopes not. But Tatooine, tho... And to think Vader came from a place like that. All she knows about Tatooine is that it's a desolate, sandy end of the world and full of the worst kind of person in the galaxy—and controlled by a Hutt.

Still, now that Leia looks at Vader, she can notice some marks of someone coming from this kind of place; golden skin, very careful with fluids, and insensitive when comes to dealing with people like that girl...

"Your surprise confuses me; did you had somewhere in mind?" he seemed genuinely curious when he asked her, Leia starting to move down the aisles to the next thing on the shopping list.

"I thought, for an Imperial, you would come from somewhere with high society and elitizing kids... not from Tatooine."

"There are merits in being born in the almost exact definition of a Corellian hell. However, your princess mentality and desire for 'good blood' can be proud of your mother, she was from Naboo and an upper-class person." In that Leia felt some pride. Naboo is marvelous. The home planet of the legendary Padmé Amidala, a peaceful paradise with beautiful landscapes. She and her family used to visit the place almost every year for end-of-year holidays.

"I don't have this desire for good blood, this is a dumb conception. It doesn't matter where people are born, but how they live."

"Beautiful words for someone grown up in Aldeeran." Vader said with a disgusting voice and some anger not hidden in his voice. Leia didn't know exactly if it was hatred for her being raised specifically on a Core planet, or because of her parents... Probably the latter for how hateful Vader is to Bail and Breha. So, putting the skin cream inside the basket of items, Leia responded to him.

"If only the Empire was good for something and tried to help the galaxy like the Republic, people born on planets like this could have better lives."

"The Empire has existed for 20 years, the Republic 3000, and the same problems that Bastilla Shan described in her biography while traveling across the galaxy are still standing today. The Emperor is a man who doesn't care about anything besides himself, and so are the leaders the Republic had throughout its sad existence—but just one of them is a Sith Lord." Vader crossed his arms as he ended his monologue and, well, Leia tried to say something and it only resulted in her voice dying inside her throat... The Republic really has existed for so long and so many problems that, in fact, could be solved if the right effort was put into the right places still exists. She slowly adjusted her posture and avoided eye contact with Vader, preferring a change of subject. She would think more about those points of the Republic later when they were both not in a dubious cosmetics shop in the confines of the Outer Rim.

"You talk a lot about these people..."

"The legend in their names should not be underestimated. Bastilla Shan is a Sith icon of respect as itself and her wisdom goes beyond Sith theology." Stopping for a moment, Vader faced her deeply before continuing. "You vaguely remind me of her, the comment is worth mentioning." Vader did not care much for Leia's change of subject since it was quite clear that she lacked arguments in this regard. Her education had probably not included the catastrophic failures of the Republic for millennia... he would extensively teach her each one of them, of course.

"Anything cool about her?" Leia said while moving to the make-up session of the shop. She had to say; the shop was decrepit looking and the lighting was poor, but the products were of great quality. Vader seemed hesitant to speak, but all it took was a wide-eyed look and a slightly more fragile appearance while she looked straight inside his eyes that he gave in almost immediately. Leia 3, Vader 0.

"Bastilla Shan is a Sith icon, but first she was a Jedi—sure enough, with her fall, any record that portrayed her as great was instantly or erased or corrupted—and her stories vary greatly. After the defeat of Exar Kun and the rise of Darth Revan and Darth Malak and the threat to the Republic, Bastilla Shan swiftly grew in the ranks because of her rare power in the Force; her battle meditation, capable of turning the tables on a war. One of her greatest achievements was during her betrayal as she chose to stand by her lover, Revan."

"Wow, lovers?" she interrupted him and Vader faced her ugly. Leia kinda answered by putting some kind of brush in the basket he was holding and maintaining silence.

"Yes, they were. They managed to betray all the trust of the Republic, take possession of the most powerful weapon in that time, and destroy a considerable percentage of the entire fleet of the Republic and the Jedi, all within 10 hours. To this day this is considered one of the greatest victories for the Sith, even passing the creation of the new Sith Order in the hands of Darth Bane. Bastilla Shan or Darth Inamorata was solidified as a Dark Lord of the Sith by her power fueled by her ability to love another Sith, making her one of the most powerful of the Order in the galaxy—but I doubt even Bastilla Shan might reach your when you are fully trained, daughter of mine." Vader finished his speech with a high note of pride for Leia who sincerely felt good about the praise. Vader believed she could be much stronger than this legendary woman and, knowing Vader, she knows he was not lying... The Force even was pointing out the truth in his words.

Still, the part about the near fall of the Republic did not please her one bit. Has the Republic really lost so much because of only two Sith disguised as Jedi? How much they depended on the Jedi at that time?... Remembering Vader's words, Leia thought about the Clone wars and all the bits of information that Vader released once in a while, and well, the Republic always seemed to rely too much on the Jedi and that created the question; why? She momentarily stared at Vader, remembering that he told her to seek out him if she had any questions... But should she ask him here? And if anyone hears...

Leia... practically stapled her own forehead. She wanted to hit her head on the nearest wall, but just the slap on her forehead was enough.

"Your habit of hurting yourself is not something I approve of, daughter of mine." He called her, arms crossed and joyful tone... Almost as if he knew what she would say.

_"Honestly, why haven't we been talking though the Force all this time?"_

_"I was waiting to see how long your brilliant mind would take to reach this obvious conclusion. Perhaps your mother's wisdom is not present in every department?"_ It was strange that once in a while Vader seemed to tease her like this, almost sounding fun... and fun and Vader are two words that hate each other.

 _"Spare me, Vader."_ While walking towards the lipsticks, a salmon pink being her goal, Leia noticed that it was quite difficult to keep the Force connection and perform movements at the same time, but she was managing it some way to keep everything connected with little help from Vader in the background. _"But, I wanted to know exactly... why? Why the Republic depends so much on the Jedi?"_

Vader liked that specific question. There were so many reasons and he could control exactly what he would say to achieve most effect—hatred, confusion, and even more and more doubts—he took almost an entire minute to answer it, prioritizing a greater dramatic effect.

 _"It starts with the Republic using the Jedi and their natural 'goodwill' as propaganda, to emphasize all the good parts of them. Then they give privileges to the Jedi. They can keep secrets, they can keep criminal practices, they earn parts of the taxes citizens pay and many of their actions can have the cause nullified by simply saying 'Jedi business'. Then it is time for the Jedi to pay. Any wisdom and preaching of peace are thrown away when Jedi become generals in wars, ready to send 11-_ _year-old kids_ _to die on battlefields against soulless machines."_ He stopped talking as if he was rowing over something, and Leia's latent eagerness increased by a few good degrees. She was invested in his words, she was considering them. Inside, Vader was pure pride and almost smiled as he continued. _"The Jedi receive all these privileges with open arms, for with them their dubious practices need no explanation. Viewed more rudely, the Jedi give manpower and full service against any enemy while the Republic covers up their illegal practices. One depends very much on the other to survive for, alone, both are fragile and vulnerable. If one falls, the other also falls"._

Leia swallowed dry as she began to discern all the words of Vader, seeking without focus among the various lipsticks of different shades in front of her. The Republic and the Jedi have been connected for so long... Will they try to rise again when the Rebellion brings back the Republic? The implications of that would be incredibly... Incredibly what? Bad, good? At that point, she's not so sure. When she gets her high position in the new Republic as a senator, she will fight with claws and teeth so that these Jedi practices would be inherently eradicated, but not the Order itself because, on some level, they still do good for the people of the galaxy... Right? But if what Vader just had said it's true, without these privileges, would the Jedi still stick to the Republic? No, better... Will anyone stand by her side if she tries to contest the Jedi like that?

And on top of that... Would the Jedi try to do something to her if she continued to follow the Way of the Sith, even if she was not dominated by the dark side and wanted good for the galaxy?

There was more to think about than she initially thought, kriff...

Vader moved his presence away from Leia's mind and gave her some space to think, satisfied with the doubts that permeated the Force around her, her gaze of uncertain being a delight to him. His seeds grew strongly within her mind and slowly Leia faced in the eyes the lies she had been living all her life and, if she truly leaves him in the end, these question shall remain with her, screeching more and more as she observes the world around her with a new perception... It is a long road and one he must tread carefully but that if he succeeds in the end, Leia and he will work together to create a new Empire that will do better for the galaxy than any other regime, as well as a new Sith Order. However, the other way is not unexpected to happen if she does not want to accompany him and opt for the Republic, even with all those doubts, as she had said she would four days ago. In that end, she will kill him. Vader is conformed to the reality of these two paths and, in fact, happy with either outcome.

... Would Padmé be proud of him? He is teaching their daughter the best he can to see the world not as black and white—he is even giving her the benefit of choice—Even if she chooses the hard choice, he wouldn't force her to not do it or do it for her. He is creating their only child to be free of the chains of naivety and the dogmas of the sith and the Jedi, everything in an effort to make the memory of his wife proud.

He hopes it matters in the end.

* * *

After the cosmetics shop and more credits than Vader thought were needed spending, they both went to the ship to deposit their stuff before leaving for the second round of shopping; supplies. On the way, however, Vader began to wonder the many stormtroopers that were walking from there to here, the Force murmuring about danger, low and weak, but existent... They were probably looking for them and even if they didn't, he doesn't want to risk it. His hand of flesh fell close to his lightsaber and the path between the streets was swapped for a more serpentine one between alleyways—for his daughter's most grief.

"Ug, the smell is killing me..." she commented while, with a disgusting look, stepped carefully on the ground full of rubbish and other things, ignoring the miserable beggar and the eventual suspicious person who occasionally tried to approach, only to walk away when they saw the blaster Leia had left exposed on her hip.

"Endure it, we will visit worse places in our journey."

"Really? Can't we stick to the most pleasant planets like—" her body trembled slightly as she felt her black boot stepping on something pungent and completely rotten, the foul smell harsh on her nose. "Don't look, don't kriff look..." Leia's voice took a degree of urgency as she rubbed whatever had been stuck against her boot sole in the dirt.

"No, we cannot. Most of the places I intend to visit are in the Outer Rim..."

"All right, then—but are we going to visit nicer planets once in a while, like Naboo and Aldeeran?" she asked curiously. These planets have a lot of influence on the Rebellion, so she doubts that Vader would really want to visit them... But, would it work if she... "I really love these planets, especially Naboo... We have to visit my mother's planet, Vader. Together." she hopes she got the perfect doses of everything to successfully manipulate Vader. She wanted to visit Naboo so she could see the landscapes and the waterfalls in the first place, her mother being the least. She doesn't even have the slightest idea of who her biological mother is, for kriff sake! Truly, however, her questions about her grew stronger in the latter days... What exactly does she know about this woman?

Vader stared at the ground as his walk became harder, the Force weighing down around him. Perhaps she exaggerated? Vader slowly turned to face her and spoke softly, even though Leia initially paid more attention to a glimpse of blue that she could see under Vader's black hood but that, fast enough, disappeared.

"I am not sure about Aldeeran... But together we will visit Naboo, daughter of mine. I do promise you." Soon, he turned his face forward and continued walking, but the Force hasn't got any better around him—the other way around, it seemed even gloomier and dark.

Leia smiled satisfied. It was simply so easy to stir Vader's emotions, how much more could she push him? A morbid animation appeared in the back of her mind with the massive amount of options that appeared out of thin air and she did her best to not just yell it at the Force. However, soon thoughts about this fact began to be suffocated by the previous thought about her mother, the question in particular; What does she know about her? She knew she was from Naboo, upper class, very intuitive and wise...

_... wait a moment..._

That explosion of Vader before she watched the video of the children and the Inquisitors reciting their codes, she had told Vader about the people who did good in the Republic; "Riyo Chuchi, Mon Mothma and..."no, it's impossible. Vader hates politics and even more the Republic. She highly doubts he would break the Jedi code to lay down with one of the most vociferous and influential democracy defenders she can think.

However, before Leia could complete her thoughts, Vader suddenly pushed her into a corner, and as she went to ask 'what the kriff is wrong with you' in confusion, his metal hand pressed against her mouth. With her eyes wide open, she stared at him as his other hand made the universal sign of 'stay silent'--finger against the lip and a low baritone as he made noises of 'shhh'.

With the lack of noise, Leia could clearly hear the heavy boots banging against the ground in the well-known rhythm of the Imperial Official Tone. Stormtroopers. Several of them and they were extremely close, practically marching down the street that they would enter if they left this alley and she is sure that Vader's push was to hide them in the shadows. Slowly Vader took his hand out of her mouth and she took a very low breath.

 _"Stormtroopers?"_ she asked through the Force, even if it was redundant.

 _"Many. I have no doubt, they are after us. Let's get back to our ship immediately before an entire battalion surrounds it."_ All Leia could answer was a nod, her hand falling first on the blaster that was on her waist... And then, with a heavy sigh and a second of indecision, she squeezed the twin lightsabers around her fingers, her heart racing.

  
  


  
  


  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much happened, but we do have a better understanding of Leia's views of society and of herself through the 'infection' of the dark side, as well as some reflections and insight for the future. And Obi-wan suffering from guilt, this always gets to me :(  
> Leia is getting more confident in her abilities, maybe even growing too much confident?  
> Vader is trying his best, as always  
> And something is cooking in the background as the Imps start to appear, what is happening? Probably you guys already can Tell, but I like the drama.  
> thank u for your time, and hope to see you next time.


	8. Leia and Vader get along, Utapau is Utagone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hope you enjoy it!

Every corner. Every kriffing corner they went had stormtroopers. And it was to be a tense situation, stretched out for hours... They're sneaking through the dumps and dark alleys back to their ship as they divert from whole armies of stormtroopers. Vader made it very clear that they were going to shoot to kill the moment they saw them—an absurd, of course... But coming from the man who commanded these soldiers and remembering the fact that it's the kriffing Empire, she doesn't doubt it at all—so, any mistake or lapse of judgment may have them engaging in combat and ending in possible death.

Right... So, what's the problem?

 **Vader.** Kriffing Vader as always.

 _"Focus on your surroundings. Are there five on your left or your right?_ " Vader asked mentally, the bulging look of clear disbelief in Leia's eyes not even taking a reaction from his face. He was teaching her?! In such a situation!

 _"Vader... I don't know if you noticed, but this is like, the worst time for a lesson!"_ she tried to apply common sense to this whole situation and, indeed, she wanted to hit her head on the wall via reminding herself that Vader and common sense are like water and oil, never a mix.

_"There's no such thing as a bad time for a lesson."_

_"This is a bad time!"_ Sighing internally, Leia found Vader's cold eyes staring deeply at hers. They were squeezed between a bin and the wall, hidden in the shadows and, in front of them—left of the bin—two entrances; steps, breaths, and even vocal-modified voices could be heard if you pay attention. The situation was perilous and if they made too much noise or took too long to move, one of the stormtroopers might walk this path and it wouldn't be surprising if they were caught... Leia glanced at the two paths, biting her lip and then turning her eyes to Vader once more, feeling the moment he crossed his arms and not moving his eyes an inch of this tacit stare contest. Squeezing her mouth, she hit the back of her head against the wall of the building... He won this battle and the grin she heard through the Force said he knows that.

They wouldn't move before she answered.

_"Good, you are improving your Force reading."_

_"I didn't use the Force, sleemo. It's written all over your face and clear stubbornness!"_ Taking a moment to calm down, Leia seized a deep breath and sought the Force around her, unstable at first but gradually putting it under her control, her hands closing tightly to maintain concentration as she went deeper and deeper inside her own feelings.

Until something with little feet walked on her boot. For a second, her face froze and eyes went wide, a shiver crossing her spine, and, seeing everything as an omen, Vader had to move fast.

"Eek!" she almost screamed out, Vader being quick enough to cover his daughter's mouth with his metal hand. Leia maintained a growing shock while she felt the little creature rubbing her boot for a few more moments, finally being pulled out by Vader's other hand, who threw the little bog-like monster away. However, to her sad lack of mitigation, the damage had already been done.

"I think I heard something...." a mechanized voice said and Leia's chest hardened, Vader's back sinking deeper into the darkness and bringing her with him. "I'll check it out, be right back."

"Yeah, whatever."

It didn't take long for one of the stormtroopers to appear from the right path, blaster in hand and staring at the rubbish and dark path in front of him, the lack of natural light—the day was too cloudy—making seeing without a flashlight impossible. Vader slowly took his hand out of her mouth, Leia doing her best not to make any noise. It was a relief to be able to breathe normally again, a relief that disappeared as the stormtrooper's light approached and Leia could feel a nudge from the Force that said something like; "it's not over yet".

 _"Distract him with the Force."_ and it kriffing wasn't.

 _"What?! How?"_ she asked through the Force, exasperated. He wanted her to do everything?! And she's only been using the Force for what? 5 days?! Oh kriff, oh kriff...

 _"The time you've spent with the Force doesn't mean you are unable of manipulating it. Besides, you have already shown me what you can do with the Force. Trust in yourself, trust in your training. You have a few seconds before we have to turn on our lightsabers, daughter of mine."_ Vader made this very clear as he shook the lightsaber handle, leaving Leia even tenser. What would she do? How would she distract this stormtrooper? She can't think of anything, her head is so restless, her heart racing quicker and, and...

**Your focus is your reality.**

This phrase of Vader vaguely crossed her mind, a breath she didn't even notice was stuck in her throat silently releasing itself. Focus... She hadn't really understood this phrase before... however, now, surrounded by enemies and facing the pressure of a time limit, where only the Force can help her, she thinks she understands it a little bit more. Swallowing an invisible wall of ice and squeezing both lightsabers between her fingers, Leia brought painful, sad memories to her mind creating a decoy to the dark side that, like vultures drawn by carcasses, came flying at her... Just for her to grab them hard and bind them under her bonds.

To focus was the only way to survive. Thinking too much, worrying about chances... This will bring her nothing but a faster death. She needs to focus and deepen on the power of the dark side as fast as possible, because then, and only then, she could see the world—as Vader said—through the Force.

Dark, fierce, and freezing power pumped inside her veins, relieving her tensions and quieting her mind, putting her in rhythm with the steps closer and closer of the stormtrooper. She had to focus. All Vader taught her so far was to focus on the Force and how to control it without it controlling her... And it was working. The time around her seemed slower, the putrid smell was lost and that oppressing atmosphere disappeared like dust in the wind and everything felt more within the reach of her hands, an obscure and painful call deep in her mind being constantly repeated, threatening to break these ties and destroy her from within... It was bothering her too much, shaking her focus, but she did her best to ignore it and only disturbed her even more.

However, she was able to see the little creature Vader had taken from her boot earlier, stirring inside an empty can of food, looking for nourishment in this cruel world... And she had an idea. Slowly opening her hand, she locked her gaze on the disgusting little animal...

And then she squeezed it hard. The animal grunted and screamed in pain, an acute, loud growl as its chest crumpled like mashed bread. Afraid of anything that hurt, the rat thing began to run and appeared in the light of the stormtrooper's lantern, the man shouting in fright and walking away while the rat snarled at him in threat before quickly rushing to the deepest parts of the alleyway.

"It was just a damn rat, kriff... What a scare." Breathing deeply and clearly frustrated, the stormtrooper returned to the others.

"Man, what was that scream?"

"Screw you..." soon the conversation became faraway noises to Leia as she quickly found herself looking into her own hands while breathing profusely. Her head was still throbbing a little with the threatened whispers, but she was more absorbed in what exactly she had done... It wasn't long before for, with an upward smile on her face and turning to Vader, she spoke in the Force.

_"Vader."_

_"Yes, daughter of mine?"_ His tone barely hid the pinch of fun and she dared to say it was proud she was feeling coming from him.

_"I did it."_

_"Yes, you did."_

_"I don't know how, but I did it."_

_"Reconsider your words, because you know exactly how you did it, daughter of mine."_ It was practically audible his chest puffing with overconfidence. He knew that she had remembered his teachings. 'Your focus is your reality,' 'focus on the battle,' 'master the Force, and your enemies'... Kriffing rascal.

 _"Your teachings are just a part of a bigger thing—a small part, indeed. Most of it was me being incredible."_ She said, proud of herself. She managed to put her thoughts in order, connect with the Force, keep the dark side away, think of a way to get them out of this situation, and then execute this solution! She's kriffing awesome!

_"From your abundant assurance in your abilities, I would say that you can tell me which side has five stormtroopers, am I correct?"_

_"I wouldn't put it that way, there's still a long way to go."_ She said by the Force, dripping confidence in her growing skills, words of humble that not even she believed. _"And they are on the right side, I can easily feel them in the Force."_ she could barely feel them—but, kriff, she felt their auras already! The vital energy of people by the Force! How incredible is that?

" _Your fall comes from your inability to differentiate the vital forces of each individual in the Force, daughter of mine. There are not five stormtroopers on the right, but four and one of those rats that you almost exploded. Let's say... you weren't right."_ he finished and Leia stared at him as if he had grown a second head. Vader's little smirk began to drop with a three-second count until, finally, the penetrating look of hers and lack of response began to annoy him greatly. _"Maybe my answer was so much that it verbally broke you? Something terrible for a politician, I must say."_

_"No... It's just that..."_

_"Say it, daughter of mine"_

_"Vader... Did you make a pun?"_

The blond stared at her silently for a moment and the next, he was faced with two choices. Ignore her or say yes, he did it because he just had remembered that Ahsoka, his former padawan, used to love little puns after those kinds of tense moments... Obviously, he took the one to ignore her.

 _"We have a long way to go. Let's go."_ Not giving her time to respond, Vader left the corner in silent footsteps and headed to another dark corner of the alley.

Leia could only be stunned by herself for one more moment. Vader had made a kriffing pun.

_It was going to rain lightsabers._

* * *

The hours went by and more and more Leia became painfully stressed. Her uncertainty grew along with the constant hardship of being near Vader and walking so slowly and quietly through the rubbish. It was already night and the nine moons of Utapau were moving through the darkened sky when suddenly hundreds of Imperial ships burst into the atmosphere, painting the skies with lights and the menacing shapes of dozens of Stardestroyers... Like they were making a blockade around the planet. The number of stormtroopers was too high, but they seemed really organized and instructed the people in the Imperial way—death for whoever disrespects the rules or spoke the other way—to crowd into the city center, investigating each one individually.

Until now, Vader said he did not understand what was happening. Most of the military protocols he was present involved crushing resistance, controlling rebellions, and executing any enemy of the Empire—she couldn't turn away her look when he said those things. It was so kriffing obvious—but these stormtroopers were guiding masses of hundreds of thousands of people strictly to keep calm and expect an important imperial communique.

Leia had the theory they were going to talk about her and Vader, but the Force itself around Vader froze momentarily, drawing her attention before he quickly hid his own signature and hers. Now, they were dressed in black cloaks that they 'borrowed' from some people... Borrowed is a different interpretation of her using the mind control trick to steal people's possessions—but, frankly, she wants the greatest distance possible from her old black cloak, plastered in rubbish and haze that was acquired during the hours of sneaking in the dimly lit alleys—The streets were dotted with thousands of heads, surrounded by men in white armor and blasters in hands. Leia and Vader hid among a larger group of people closer to the corners, shaded and hidden; Vader constantly using suggestions from the Force so that people nor stormtroopers would notice them or look at them...

Their Lambda was parked at the spaceport on the other side of this block, obstructed with crowds of confused and frightened people, some stormtroopers shooting to maintain 'order' now and then.

The plan was to move as soon as this Imperial announcement was given and, by her best guess, it would commence a hysteria... But from the rigid pose that Vader took, she doubts very much that this plan will be maintained.

 _"You are completely right, daughter of mine."_ He said in her mind, his voice stranded from the calm and cold that he carried even in the tensest moments. It was agitated but harsh and decisive, like that of a general at war. _"I think I finally understand what's happening here... I should have known it was going to happen, predicted it even. For him, this is the best moment possible."_

 _"What's happening, Vader?"_ Her voice in the Force was unsettled and the strings that bound them weighed with the uncertainty that Leia spread. She looked at the sea of people who also sounded very confused and murmured and that, out of the blue dissolved, as did her thoughts, when a space shuttle began to descend into the atmosphere. It was clearly Imperial, and as it approached, she sensed a chill in her spine... There was an immeasurable dark power inside it. But this... This was not the lava pool that the girl Vader fought days ago was... This was completely different.

It was abrasive, remarkably powerful, nearly perpetual, munching the margins of her mind as she ran to hid in Vader's signature, exhaling careless and with difficulty. Vader had already felt the person miles away from the planet, a frigid look in his yellowish eyes... Almost like he knew who was there.

 _"My old master's weapon will soon make itself real for the galaxy."_ Leia didn't know why, but that phrase left his whole body covered in murderous ice.

New weapon?... What was he talking about?

**The Death Star...**

The Force rustled to her as if it were obvious... But it wasn't. What could this battle station do? Yes, it carried thousands, even millions of soldiers she could say and it can destroy an entire city as the Rogue One implied in their earlier missions—she didn't receive full details, but she does know the Death Star has this kind of power... But a handful of ships could bombard a planet and destroy cities within minutes. What does the Death Star have of special? It’s a big deal since it can, literally, destroy any possible balance between the Rebellion and the Empire, making most planets choice of side easier than ever and, with time, this would destroy the Rebellion… But it’s just about that. It's one big ship and it must have some way of destroying it.

What makes the Death Star so special?

The Force was implying it has something extra. Breathing with the hassle, Leia tried to concentrate on the whispers of the Force, increasingly fickle and meaningless, a pain in her head springing the more she tried to attain the answer... That was until Vader's warm, strong hand alighted on her shoulder, calling her back to reality.

Opening her eyes full of doubts, she looked into Vader's golden flames and only felt incoming danger. A danger not coming from him, but of the situation around them.

The cold got worse, the tremor in her body began to get more critical and she felt her eyes tearing, chest gasping with morbid expectation, eager to see the space shuttle land in a surrounded area by several stormtroopers, elevated by three meters above the crowd. People watched in consternation and fear as the spacecraft turned off its engines, mechanical noises while the turbines quieted and the door opened...

The stormtroopers stomped their boots on the ground in synchrony, shivers crossing all the audience as the soldiers in white saluted, Leia herself letting out a grunt as her shoulders closed. There was something in the situation along with the danger, observing, waiting for something... Creeping in the dark. A terror spread throughout her heart when the Force brought again the image of the Death Star inside her head.

The Death Star... What about the Death Star?... How could a battle station carry so much terror behind only the thought of it?

However, Leia's mind forgot everything besides what was happening half-yard away from her, her eyes bulging as she saw the black figure leaving the space shuttle.

Mechanical, rhythmical breathing, empowered more than enough by the consensual silence, silencing and freezing the whole crowd with his bare presence. A dark, skeletal-looking mask, gigantic height and dressed all in black armor, a lightsaber hilt hanging in his waist. Leia, slowly, looked at Vader beside her... His gaze was penetrating and dribbled danger while he judged with a look the other... Vader... going down the ramp of the shuttle and putting himself in all his best look of Dark Lord of the Sith more or less a meter away of the main microphone that would be used for the Imperial announcement.

_"What—"_

_"I don't know."_ was Vader's quick and objective response as they watched another man stop near the microphone, a man in a high-ranking green uniform following shortly after, at least three people dressed in black coming after him. The old man positioned himself in front of the microphone and the other inquisitors, she guesses, bowed behind Vader who, with his hands on his waist, observing over the people as a god watching men.

Leia could feel it... All those in black, including the Fake Vader, were Force-sensitives, the Fake Vader being the most powerful of all them. It was latent, interchangeable, and drowned every other presence in the Force but Real Vader's. Her thoughts were dragged to the spot where the old man began his communication—she made sure of listening attentively, trying to overlook the four sensations of darkness that fathomed the people around her, seeking the Real Vader and herself—Fader, a blend of False with Vader to facilitate her thoughts, was the one who came the closest, but Vader was notably efficient at masking their presence in the Force from the eyes of others, making it improbable for him to find them.

"Citizens. I'm here today on the planet of Utapau with a communique given by the Emperor himself..." clearing his throat, he took a dramatic pause, eyes racing on the people of the audience. "Utapau is recognized now by the Empire as a planet allied to the Rebel Alliance, regarding the great crime of hiding Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Rebel Leader Leia Organa. For these crimes against the supremacy of the Empire and many others, Utapau will be the first and, by the will of the Emperor, the only necessary planet to receive punishment from our new and experimental battle station: the Death Star." The old man pointed somewhere in the sky and Leia stared at the night illuminated by Stardestroyers, seeking to find among the hundreds of ships the notorious Death Star... She knows it is a big Battle Station, but she is getting rather skeptical. If it's so big as Rogue One implied, where is it then? She tried a second and a third look at the stars, but the Death Star was nowhere to be found.

All she could see were, in fact, only the ten moons of Utapau, a lot of ships and stars...

"The sixth from right to left, daughter of mine..." she stared at Vader, absent to the meaning of his words. However, before he could continue articulating the obvious, the Force poked him and she finally remembered the Moons... facing specifically the sixth moon in the sky, looking for a ship close to it.

Wait... Utapau had only nine Moons. Why it's **ten** now?

Frowning her eyes, Leia stared deeply into the sixth moon, and when she finally understood what was going on, she couldn't hold the "kriff!" that was stuck in her throat, coming out like a painful whisper as she retained her eyes glazed on that... thing.

_That's no moon._

The Death Star was... kriffing huge. It reflected the light and even looked like a moon, going totally unnoticed by Leia and a lot of people who, steadily, began to notice the new moon in the skies, a sliver of panic starting to rise. Leia was so focused on that massive thing on the horizon that she lost the crowd clearly getting angrier and fearful, screeching in confusion to the stage and even throwing a few things... The calamity was instantly established when one of the people who spoke the loudest of doubts and pointed lies was lifted in the air, holding his throat and, without delay, returning to the ground with the sound of bone cracking. All with the slightest hand movement of Fader.

"But don't worry. The Death Star was designed to be a weapon of momentary lethality. There will be no suffering or pain, for the shot will destroy the entire planet in just one second."

For a moment, the silence could be sliced with a knife. No one could distinguish exactly what these words meant, not even Leia. Planetary destruction?...without suffering? What was he trying to imply? However, it took just one more moment before pandemonium to set in. Shrieking, nervousness, shaking steps on the ground as people screamed, ran or screamed as they ran. It wasn't long before violence commenced and the stormtroopers started shooting at anyone to keep them contained, the people fighting back with their own blasters and hands.

However, Vader knew very well what was happening and, a second before the panic exploded, he was already in motion, his strong flesh hand around Leia's wrist as he pulled her in the direction of where their ship was parked.

"Vader, what—" she tried to scream in the midst of the pandemonium of blaster fire and screeching, watching as Vader pushed people away and stopped them from hitting primarily her.

"This planet and its people are doomed, the Death Star soon will destroy them... But not us." Vader watched as, still firing, the soldiers began to retreat in formation to several freighters that were descending from the skies in specific locations. The old man, Tarkin he managed to notice, had already entered the small Imperial ship after speaking a few quick words with his look-alike. Vader knew why Sidious hadn't just appeared and blown up the planet... No, that would be too easy and not glorious, the way he likes. Surely all of Tarkin's speech was recorded and will be used against anyone who opposes the Empire. It gave them time, but it was something that had delayed Vader's plans to take over the Empire... Damn Sidious. He needs to talk to Piett again to correct any stranded line of their plan.

The crowd got denser and the shots passed inches from him and his daughter by and he swiftly made the decision that they won't lose time anymore.

Lighting the red blade, Vader cut two men in front of him and pushed others away with the Force, driving several people away from him. Leia stared at him in complete disbelief and no doubt he caught the attention of False Vader and those who followed him. Leia was already going to yell something at him, but he went faster.

"We must survive, daughter of mine! Deflect the shots and kill them!" he shouted and, without waiting for an answer, pushed several people out of their way with the Force and began to deflect the shots from the soldiers who were still retreating.

Leia felt as if the time around her stopped for a moment, an unimaginable weight laying on her chest. People seemed to walk in slow motion around her, Vader waving his lightsaber and creating the acrid smell of burning flesh as he butchered the bodies of unfortunate people with burning plasma... She watched the mask of the Fader over her and Vader, three red blades arising to life as the Fader turned his back on them and followed him to the ship where Tarkin was waiting.

Leia's heart pound with tension and, in fact, she found herself gazing into the faces of these unfortunate people. They were breathing their last moments in sheer despair of their lives, bulging eyes and pushing people away to go to their ships and try to escape from this planet that would soon... disappear. The concept was strange to her: to blow up a planet... only because of two people.

That reminded her of Darth Revan and Bastilla Shan. They almost succeeded in destroying the Republic because the Republic trusted too much in two individuals. **Two Jedi.**

And now, a planet of thousands of years, with billions of people and an infinite culture... was going to become space dust because of **two 'Sith'.**

The Force determined her this was true and deliberately, in the midst of chaos and destruction, Leia ultimately realized something. It was all a game of the Force. Sith, Jedi... Those two were the pieces and they didn't even know... Not all of them. Her eyes fell on Vader and, slowly, her hand that Vader wasn't holding hastened to her belt and held one of the lightsabers there, the semi-arch protecting her hand.

**"The flaw in the Sith and Jedi Code that had made them fail for thousands of years."**

_There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is only the Force._

_Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through compassion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me._

It is all the Force. The origin and the conclusion, the key to break their chains, but a key they shall never have possession... They are slaves in the board game of the Force.

Sith and Jedi will never win from each other because both play in the hands of the Force; they do everything to annihilate each other, they kill thousands, play with the people of the galaxy and even destroy planets... but, in the end, the Force brings the other side back just to keep the game ongoing... A game that's over 7,000 years. That was the answer. It was so simple, Vader always gave her tips. He said to enslave the Force before it enslaves her. He kept her from falling so she wouldn't play those sick games. It was so obvious and now she understands. Vader is different. The Force tried to play with him, but he eventually managed to beat it in its own game, not without paying a big price first; she shivers remembering that meditation where she felt his hatred and fury. Now he's teaching her how to do beat the Force before she loses too much and gets into those games.

Jedi and Sith could not follow any path, for the Force enslaved them.

She and Vader... They create their own paths, for they controlled the Force without it controlling them. She watched him for just a moment, executing these people and deflecting the shots, concentrating on the three Inquisitors with covered heads coming towards him.

With this new resolve in mind, Leia applied what she had learned and focus— _her focus is her reality_ —and in the next instant, she turned on her lightsaber.

Vader let her arm go before she'd pulled it, her hand running to pick up the second lightsaber and turning it on the next moment, the twin blades raised in the air.

Then, together, they started to clear the way towards the spaceport... Leia was stalwart and used the Force to deflect the shots and move people away, never killing them. Her mind echoed the movements of the training with Vader automatically, feeling every blaster shoot coming to her exactly like Vader's blade during their training, those whispers deep in her mind screaming for blood and periodically destabilizing her, but she did her best not to execute anyone with the crimson blades, focusing on her past meditations with Vader to control the dark side, especially his favorite; moving meditation. She took a second to face the Inquisitors coming towards her, quickly closing the distance gap... just as the spaceport was entering vision.

"Focus, daughter of mine!" Vader's voice came before the Force, danger pressing on her side and instinctively she parried the red bolt that would have hit her head. Leia looked straight into Vader's corner, breathing fast and determined, recovering her focus gradually and staring into his golden eyes, his breathing much more controlled, legs and hands moving much better than in the fight against the Inquisitor in the hangar, but still inhuman... The physiotherapy was working, but the thrill of real combat is what he needs, whatever this means.

He just nodded to her before changing to the front and starting to run out of the more and more scarce crowd that were fleeing from the vibrant reddish blades. To their misfortune, he also made room for the other Inquisitors to follow them much more easily.

With a very strong push Force push, the spaceport gate flew away and Vader and Leia hurried past, the Lambda no longer being observed by that creepy man. Numerous other ships ascended to the skies in a dire try to escape, people too worried about their lives to try to plunder or loot anything, but the Imperial ships were shooting everyone who tried to escape... Although she highly doubts they could blast the best pilot in this galaxy. Kriffing Vader is annoying most of the time, but he knows how to fly. The ship was so close, just open the ramp, turn on and disappear from this lost planet.

But the Force hissed and, spinning at her heel, Leia executed the defense at the lower right side of Shii-Cho, defending a lightsaber that came flying towards her, thrown by an inquisitor at the destroyed entrance of the spaceport. Above her, another inquisitor jumped over the gate, his lightsaber turned on and aimed at her and, pumping adrenaline, all Leia managed to do was fervently remember the Shii-Cho form and her training. It is everything she has now.

The first ascending attack was defended with her right saber up, the next one trimmed away with her left lightsaber as she took a step back. She could hear her own heartbeat, everything around her was fire and she was kriffing ready to continue battling. It lasted only a moment the exchange of two blows and Leia was at the limit of her consciousness, completely focused on the reality of the fight...

However, red thunders crossed the air and knocked the inquisitor in front of her before she could defend the third blow, sending him flying to the metal walls of the spaceport. Natural curiosity got the best of her and she glanced at Vader.

"Go start the ship, I'll take care of them!" he shouted, running in front of her with his lightsaber in hand and a face hardened, red-colored skin by blood and yellow eyes by flowing dark side energy, intimidating even her, the Force twisting furiously with power around him, nearly crushing the three inquisitors with the pressure...

 _"B-But you don't have complete movements yet!"_ she shouted in hesitation through the Force, staring Vader's back in front of her and the three inquisitors surrounding him, the third still trembling with the red lighting storm discharge that hit him earlier. Even though Leia said those words, everything inside her screamed for her to run to the ship and hoped it would end... all of it. The Force screamed for her to help, the Dark Side asked for blood, no more in whispers, but screams that tried to break her inside, and her own humanity yearned for safety. The grinding heat of battle replaced the cold of eminent death, Leia uncertain of what to do.

"I can handle it! Get to the ship, now!" His bossy tone was covered in haste and a great deal of tenacity. It was not a question, it was a demand... Yet Leia was still hesitant. Sweating deeply, she faced Vader who now wore only a sleeveless black shirt, exposing his still somewhat atrophied muscles and his metal prosthesis, black trousers, and heavy boots because of all the sweat... He looked like he could handle it, but what if he couldn't?

She had to decide... fight by his hide or run to the ship.

The Force nudged her for a moment, drawing her attention to the cockpit window. No, there was a third option.

 _"Droid!_ Start the ship, adjust the hyperdrive, now! We are counting on you!" she shouted to the droid watching them from the window, making even Vader surprised. The droid had been left there when they went to buy supplies, and now he could start the ship! It nodded positively and began to move.

Smirking excited and ignoring the drops of sweat flowing down from her forehead, Leia turned off the two lightsabers and fervently removed her black cloak, remaining only with a long-sleeved black shirt and her black trousers, boots, and skirt around her waist and, with less than ten steps, standing next to Vader, her curly and messy hair all over the place as she turns on once again the two red lightsabers, eyes caught in the inquisitors who had not yet attacked them—she could feel their fear for Vader in the Force.

The blond beside her kept silent for a moment. Leia wasn't ready, quite the contrary... Yet, when he attempted to shout a clear "no", his mind would return to some passages he read in the holobook 'How to be a Good Father'. Leia was discovering the significance behind his words, thinking alone, and using his teachings... she was getting better and better and he could not be more proud. She wanted to show that she could do things for herself, she wanted merit for winning on her own... Taking that away from her would only make her more thirsty for combat and hasty.

And a rush to combat never gets good results—his right-hand is an example.

Facing the three 'inquisitors', if he can call them that, Vader was hit by a wave of indecision. These three were in the early stages of their training, extremely anxious and yet blinded by the lies of the dark side. They wanted blood, but their minds screamed of the peril—his ego inflated with it, but he paid no attention to being fear material for weaklings—eventually, Leia had to fight for herself...

A memory lapse passed in his mind and he steadied his hand on his lightsaber; Ahsoka had her own ordeal when she was kidnapped and had to fight for her life alone once and, as she said, only his teachings persisted her alive. It is not the same situation, but he understands that it will serve almost equally for Leia.

He has to let his daughter fight for herself because she carries, even if limited, his teachings... He stared at her just for an instant, a small smile born on his lips as he met her eyes, responding 'yes' with a nod. Leia appeared bewildered and had a hard time hiding her excitement that was born a moment later, firming her foot pose and lifting the two lightsabers in a basic defense. Seeing her there, prepared for battle reminded him of Padmé—yes, there were gaps and was far from perfect, but these inquisitorial beginners would never know how to explore them.

"You don't need my words now, Leia... only my teachings. Use them and together we will defeat these vermin." As if certain of this, he spun the saber as if it was a hula hoop. Leia paid more attention to the fact that he termed her Leia and not 'daughter of mine'... Almost sounding respectful.

Facing the three inquisitors in front of her, Leia felt the power running through her veins, the black whisper of the Force trying to destabilize her, shouting for her to run face to face with the enemy and attack without thinking... But that is not what she learned.

Well, time to fight alongside Darth Vader.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we are getting to the end of the Utapau arc! I made the fic thinking about 10 planets, 5 chapters each—and fillers somewhere in the middle.  
> Vader is seeing more and more of Ahsoka in Leia, and Leia herself is starting to use his teachings to fight and survive.  
> She finally found the answer to her first lesson in the Way of the Sith, what's going to be the next lesson?  
> And who took Vader's style?  
> Hope to see you next time, thanks for ur time!


	9. Leia fights with a lightsaber and Vader is pissed because she ignores him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hope you guys enjoy it! The next chapter it's the end of the Utapau arc

Ahsoka closed and opened her left hand a few times, breathing deeply as she felt the Force around her, a familiar feeling stirring her. Aldeeran became a planet under observation after the news about Leia Organa denoting her as a rebel leader in that video a few days ago and, for that same reason, the Organa family was in great danger, which led Bail to call her to protect them and for her surprise, a call from Obi-wan... Asking for her to train Anakin's son in lightsaber combat and the Force. She had just docked in the hangar of a rebel ship flying over Yavin's planet when the distinguished signature of the Force hit her...

She opened her mouth slightly, the air escaping her immediately. She knew what to expect. She knew that this boy Obi-wan spoke of—Luke—wasn't just incredibly strong in the Force, but also extremely similar to Anakin. From afar it was impossible to feel since the old master suppressed the boy's signature, but up close is stupidly apparent. Her insides clenched as she remembered that feeling, 10 days ago, when Vader's power skyrocketed and destroyed any boundaries of the Force and rose throughout the galaxy, creating a frost that she only felt during the Jedi Purge... And then it disappeared.

Swallowing dry and taking a few moments to breathe, Ahsoka turned off her ship, arranged the two white sabers on her belt, and proceeded to leave, the landing ramp already lowered.

As soon as she left, the Force guided her eyes among the various ships, people and droids and focused especially on three that came towards her in the distance. Bail was serene, but she knew politicians well enough to know that it was a facade... Still, it was too hard to read him in the Force, so she did not try.

Obi-wan was... Old. More than she imagined at first. Grey hair, tired, down, worn out, and whatever place he'd been, it didn't make him any good.

And then, a little shy and hard to see... There was the boy Luke Skywalker.

A few years ago, in Malachor, the simple vision of the human eye of Vader, the confirmation that underneath the mask there really was a man, had already shaken her. Then there was the video days ago that showed him without the dark suit, young and brave he always during the Clone Wars... She thought that it had already been too much, the guilt reeling inside her nonstop in her sleep, in her baths, meals. She is used to those kinds of feelings, so they didn't do much harm.

And now this boy; a spitting image of Anakin. He even had his saber on his waist, dressed like a farm boy! She promised Obi-wan that she would try to train the boy at lightsaber combat and the principles of the Force and that when it was time, she'd send him to Dagobah... But just witnessing those light-blue eyes staring at her as Obi-wan and Bail approached, that sandy hair, golden skin... So many memories.

So many incredible memories, kata training, and meditation alongside her master. So many full of humor, jokes, and puns... So many full of sadness, of anger, of hatred. Suddenly, a quiet afternoon on the stairs of the Jedi Temple echoed in her mind, only her and her master. And then blaster shots, war, blood, death... And then Mandalore, Maul's eyes. A feeling of trepidation, Anakin's name appearing in her mind... Allies pointing guns at her. _The fear, the deaths..._

And then... a mask with one black eye, another golden and injected with blood.

Ahsoka took a deep breath and pressed her hand against the metal of her ship, clenching her eyes and looking at trying to soothe this headache. She had to be strong, they were just memories. Just memories... memories that haunted her, that whispered, that... Just whispers. Nothing more.

"Ahsoka." Obi-wan's voice came in front of her and abruptly she thought she heard creeping mechanical breathing nearby. A silent omen in the Force, far away from her. She stared the old man in the eye and changed the weight on her feet, quickly recovering herself and maintaining a confident posture.

"Obi-wan... You're old."

"Unlike my appearance, little has changed in you." scratching his beard, Obi-wan lifted his eyes a little. "Discounting your height, I must say."

Ahsoka made mention of a smirk, her eyes falling back on the boy standing there, noiselessly, which made her contest whether he was truly Anakin's son. Staring at him from above and analyzing his stature, landing an extra moment on the lightsaber resting on his belt, the togruta quickly resumed her speech.

"Okay, who didn't tell me that the Kaminoans cloned Skyguy?" That took a fast laugh from Obi-wan, who stuck both hands inside his Jedi dressing gown. Luke looked in puzzlement at the old man and then at Bail who, cleared his throat, requested immediate attention of the other two, Ahsoka rolling her eyes. Politicians.

"Good to see you again, Ahsoka. But it would be great if we didn't waste any time." The rush was evident and the former Jedi comprehended his reasons. Leia was in Vader's hands, and if they didn't do anything fast, he'd bring her to the dark side... the classic thing.

"Do you have any idea where they are, to begin with?" she asked as she crossed her arms, Luke withering a bit to hide when he noticed that the conversation wasn't for him; interestingly, he turned to the two droids following him, R2 and a disturbingly quiet Threepio. Padmé could only dream of a quiet Threepio during her lifetime.

"Our best lead would be a ship that recently landed on Utapau; Lambda T-4A, customized to the extreme and out of imperial standards, two figures in black cloaks and an owner complaining about them not having paid, all these information collected by one of our spies."

"Everything sounds like Sith, but the 'customized to extreme' screams just like Anakin," Ahsoka commented, Obi-wan nodding inattentive for a moment as if he was contemplating something distant.

"My father liked to customize ships?" Luke's voice caught everyone's attention and, when their eyes fell on him, he blushed thinking he'd disturbed the conversation. Ahsoka, however, laughed and said with genuine nostalgia.

"Year's euphemism goes to you, Skyson. If he wasn't personalizing his starfighter, he was adding gadgets and new cool things to Artoo. He was more a mechanic than a Jedi most of the time." She pointed at the blue dome droid who, looking confused, turned his head and beeped in binary.

"Back to our conversation." Bail claimed her attention. "Do you intend to go to Utapau to see for yourself, Master Kenobi?"

"Now, we won't be too hasty. It's a good clue, yes, but also vague and insidious. We need to be very careful in our movements—Vader is clever and surely he pays attention to whatever happens towards him; a mistake and a move in the wrong place would alert him and his defenses will be greater than before, making our jobs harder and limiting Leia's chances to coming back to the Light." Obi-wan stated.

"So—"

Ahsoka felt slightly groggy, her attention span dusting away for a moment... The Force whirred oddly around her and she stopped paying attention in Bail instinctively.

This confused, peculiar buzz exploded into thousands of screams of suffering and sudden agony, all the atmosphere surrounding her weighting tons. As loud as the Purge day, so terrifying, so full of anguish and pain, of death. Ahsoka's whole body trembled and the air from her lungs escaped her, her hand flying to squeeze her forehead and her eyes widening.

There were so many. Thousands. Millions... Billions of incessant screams, reverberating non-stop in her head. It seemed an eternity of agony, but it lasted only a moment.

**Something... Something happened.**

* * *

Vader breathed superficially, the manual use of his lungs much easier than 10 days ago on the floor of the Death Star. His red lightsaber pointed to one of the inquisitors, legs firming on the ground and arms moving more precisely with the initial tension before the battle—tension only they felt, but his presence was terrifying and coldly calm, flowing great power in the dark side and staring deeply into the eyes of these weaklings under the hoods. Their feet shook lightly, the dark side screaming for them to attack and moisten the soil with blood... But the sheer fear he exhaled made this an impossible task.

And that was an opportunity he would not let pass.

Raising his hand of flesh swiftly, Vader blasted a storm of red thunders at them and started to take vigorous steps forward. He still didn't possess Skywalker's speed, so he favored heavy and powerful steps with constant agility. One of the young men managed to lift his single lightsaber and challenge him—interestingly they all had single lightsabers; a tangent of their lack of training—and so to defend the Force storm, but his feet were dragged back with all the overwhelming power, the second inquisitor being hit hard and being thrown back.

The third was out of lightning's scope and, seeing Vader approaching, he could only do what the dark side shouted in his ears; attack him.

"Pathetic." Vader let slip harshly, attacking the boy's lightsaber with an uppercut attack, destroying any chance of defense and making his wrists shake with all the power. The inquisitor tried to pull his defense again as the second attack fell with full force, he was put on his knees. The opening was too clear and all it took was a hard kick from his boot into the vermin mouth to throw him completely to the ground.

Vader could have killed him right there, it would have been too simple... Nevertheless, he didn't do it. "End this waste, daughter of mine. It'll be a good test of your skills. Take its lightsaber as a trophy at the end." The blond's speech was quick and calm and, as if the inquisitor with the bloody nose didn't even exist, Vader passed right by him and marched imposingly towards the other two.

* * *

She had to admit; Vader was the Imperial Executor for 20 years for very clear reasons. In the last fight, the one she tore off the Inquisitor's arm, she had seen only the very end of her fight against Vader... But that fight didn't justice how powerful and violent he could be. She doubts a lot that she'd get used to seeing him fighting like this.

Besides, the Force was poking with urgency. Coming out of her stupor, Leia stared at the inquisitor rising quickly from the ground and grabbing his lightsaber, his golden eyes under the hood looking for a long moment at Vader starting to fight the two inquisitors—she managed to catch terror in the Force when he locked eyes on his back—and soon after turning to her. She could feel his hatred growing and starting to catch fire, far from being as strong as the inquisitor in Mustafar, but still alarming her.

This feeling of the dark side pinching, claiming to give her power if she just let it control her. She never wants to be like that. The inquisitor quickly stood up, the lightsaber turned on in hand and looking her in the eye... Leia hitched her breath, the right lightsaber higher and the left one lower, following Shii-Cho's common defense position that Vader taught her.

There was a jittery silence that lasted only a moment, the Force palpable in the air with the screaming in the background and the fire that began to paint the sky while several ships were blown up by the Stardestroyers; Leia, however, was paying no attention to these. She was focused on her enemy, she was aware of her weapons and she felt the Force lift the hairs from the back of her neck, her feet firm on the icy ground and her nose ignoring the putrid smells... There were only her and the enemy.

And then it began.

The Inquisitor came at high speed towards her and Leia, once again, felt the adrenaline pulsating through her blood in intense passion and the teachings fly as incoherent words through her mind. The lightsaber came down on her head and she defended with the left one, the second and third attacks coming from her right and then left, a fast Shii-Cho combo, her training with Vader blinking in her thoughts... And she defended perfectly because she knew exactly how this combo—and what would come after it—would hit her. With the third attack being repelled with a minimal amount of time, Leia found herself with a full opening in the inquisitor's chest and the Force screamed at her to thrust her right lightsaber through his heart...

But... that would kill him. She hesitated.

The Force screamed and, recovering her conscience, Leia turned the fist of the left saber upwards and defended Shii-Cho's 4th attack, her notion shaken for a moment and, to recover, she quickly crossed her lightsabers and then moved one step back, losing the moment that the inquisitor raised his hand and sent a force push. It was weak, Leia wasn't sent flying from her feet, but she had lost her once more focus and the 5th attack was coming and, bringing by very little her strong connection with the Force, Leia managed to move her right lightsaber straight and rotate herself around the inquisitor's body and defending the plasma blade at the same time. Vader taught her this counter-attack and all she had to do once again was to hack the inquisitor's head from his body...

But... that would kill him.

_**Kill him! Kill him!** _

The cries of the Dark Side were increasing and her uncertainty and hesitation began to create a feeling of frustration and growing anger inside her. Why couldn't she kill the inquisitor?! He was trying to kill her, and she already killed people before! And if she took too long, the Death Star was going to explode Utapau and she and Vader were going to kriffing die!

Yet... Every time the thought of killing him ran in her head, she remembered the tears of fear, hidden in the massive rage that the Inquisitor at Mustafar exhaled.

The Force cried out. She had to raise her sabers and begin to defend the fast combos that the inquisitor was landing at her, now without halting. He was getting frustrated by the breaches so remarkable and the dark side was taking advantage of it, shouting to him to kill her more and more, darkness involving him and getting even stronger in the Force that circulated them.

Her arms were getting stiffer, her breath was getting poorer and each attack seemed to blend with the others, her mind becoming increasingly lethargic and Leia noticed that in a few moments all she learned was going to be in vain because she was going to make a mistake and... then she was going to die. She had to kill him while Vader's teachings were still ruminating in her mind, that was all she had! Yet...

_Yet..._

"Why won't you die?" the inquisitor shouted out full of pure anger and Leia, hooked by surprise, crossed the twin sabers above her head and fell kneeling, the inquisitor starting a chain of vertical semi arc attacks, each one more powerful than the other. Her arms burned and her wrists wanted to give way. The Force jabbed furiously and she knew that in the next attack she would lose her strength on both hands. Without much thought, Leia lifted her fingers and sent a powerful, unbridled Force push, throwing the inquisitor away and giving her time to catch her breath, sweat flowing from her forehead.

The inquisitor recovered much faster than she imagined, and in seconds they were already meeting lightsabers once again.

She was more prone to mistakes, her arms were hurting more and more at every defense of Shii-Cho she could lift, the inquisitor's strength grew with frustration... She had to do something, fast...

Again, Leia remembered the inquisitor in Mustafar... But not her eyes nor her feelings. No, none of it—but how she incapacitated her by tearing off her arm.

The next row of attacks came and it was a 2-3-5-6 fast Shii-Cho combo. Again, Leia was able to defend this kind of sequence with some hardship—Vader kriffing forced her to defend them with closed eyes, after all—and when the sixth attack was going to hit her left leg, she attacked the plasma blade with her right lightsaber and threw it back and, with the left lightsaber roaring a vertical semi-arch, she swept the blade through the inquisitor's flesh, cutting off his limb easily and leaving behind the sour and harmful smell of burnt flesh in the air.

It was only a moment. She had not even noticed his guttural cry nor him falling onto his knees, the Force spinning around her and the next flow of attacks coming on the fly through her mind, expecting a full-circle cut in the right, as Vader had shown it was the most likely after this four-attack combo... But it never came.

Breathing deeply, Leia turned to face the Inquisitor as he let out a loud cry of pain, the other hand quivering holding what was left of her triceps, tears of obvious pain leaving his body as black smoke rose from the cauterized wound... But it was not in these things that Leia, hard panting, paid attention.

Trembling with pain, the inquisitor directed his yellow eyes to her, the black hood having fallen throughout the battle. There were so many salty tears, so much sweat from a fierce struggle, and especially hatred in his eyes... As if he blamed her for everything that went wrong in his life. As if she were the worst human being in the galaxy. Those golden eyes looked at her with such a pertinacious and severe hatred and, unlike creating anguish in her chest or the political indifference she was so used to, all that Leia felt... was hatred. She didn't deserve to be seen as dreadful, she was struggling to survive—she even showed pity—and all she got was him looking at her like she had killed his whole family. Her mouth closed and the forehead frowned, her focus lost and before Leia could notice, the dark side fed on her feelings.

She was pious, she was benevolent... And he sees her as if she were a bad person.

She doesn't deserve that kind of thing, that kind of judgment from anyone! She's powerful in the Force, she can do greater than this worthless inquisitor, greater than anyone! Even Vader himself said that her potential could lead her to become the most powerful Sith ever to walk the galaxy! She wouldn't receive erroneous judgment from such a pathetic life form.

The adrenaline ran voraciously through her blood, and before she knew it, she hardened her knuckles, raised her lightsaber, and as she was about to cut off the inquisitor's head, a firm hand pressed her shoulder and she stopped her attack... And finally, she was enlightened about what she almost did.

She must have felt terrible. She must have felt awful, the ice on the dark side circulating so uncensored within her blood... But she couldn't do it. She raised her look of shock at Vader by her side—not noticing the two off lightsabers stuck to his belt or the gray and well-worn metal disc in his trousers pocket—and again shifts her gaze to the inquisitor on his knees. She took a deep breath and began to connect with the Force, feeling the dark side coming closer and closer when she brought out the darkest feelings inside her body, just to crush it quickly. Vader's presence was near and helped her and within 10 seconds the dark side was under her total control once again... But the feelings of powerlessness remained.

"Get back to the ship." He said, his voice low and calm, his eyes looking directly at hers. Normally, when she looks at Vader like that, she looks to challenge him... But, with the adrenaline leaving her body and the black whispers away, all she could do was gaze at the inquisitor on his knees once again, suffering in his own pain and agony. Then, swallowing dry and putting the two lightsabers on her belt, she lifted her right and called with the Force the inquisitor's lightsaber—a trophy, as Vader said—and quickly went inside the ship.

* * *

Vader watched with his chin up his daughter following into the Lambda ship already on and ready for hyperspace, the whole battle lasting only 3 minutes, but weighing like an entire day of training on her. He spared no glance at the two masses of dead bodies on the other side of the spaceport, steaming with the amount of thunder from the Force he sent, preferring to watch as the last Imperial freighters began to leave the atmosphere quickly. He had no time left... And then his eyes fell on the fallen Inquisitor, trembling with pain and holding a bravado in his face, his golden eyes barely staring at Vader's.

Then he threw a quick and powerful of Force Storm at the Inquisitor, making him scream out in agony. Two seconds later, panting and holding the remains of his burnt forearm, finally, he clinched eyes with Vader.

"I don't fear you, Jedi."

"You are weak; whatever you feel, it doesn't matter to me. Now, give me quick and direct answers, and you will not suffer a painful death. Who is that Darth Vader?"

"I don't know."

A stream of red thunders passed through his body, increasing the flow of tears.

"I don't know! I just know he came from a weird planet, full of tombs and sand and—"

"Enough. What is your mission?"

"To kill Anakin Skywalker... And Leia Or—"

"Her name is no longer Organa. You are useless as I thought." His tone was full of cold anger and when the new thunder wave of the Force began, it did not stop. The inquisitor had no forces even to scream as his body cooked for about five excruciating seconds and just suspending the attack when he felt the inquisitor's resentful spirit join the Force. With his work done, he turned around to the ship, not caring a bit.

In a drastically increased hurry on the Force, Vader ran to the cockpit, a glance at his daughter sitting in the co-pilot's chair, her hand over the droid's head as she talked a few things to it, moving to face him as he passed right by her. Taking the controls hastily, Vader lifted the ship from the ground and flew right into the chaos. From the ground, they looked like many, but in the sky, she could see the gigantic expanse of ships trying to escape from Utapau, almost all of them blown up mercilessly, Leia's smile dying as she faced the destruction while she felt the death dripping in the Force now that there was no more euphoria of battle, just the fear for life.

Vader maneuvered with difficulty between the cannon shots, the ship trembling the closer he got to leave the atmosphere, the precision of the cannons much better and straightforward capable of killing them in one shot. Leia, however, stopped spending attention on other things, focusing entirely on the Death Star and how truly gigantic it was, now that they were beginning to leave the atmosphere.

"Daughter!" Vader called her attention while performing a particularly difficult maneuver, several TIE fighters following him now that he had managed to leave the atmosphere of Utapau. "Take the weapons and destroy anything who follows us." Leia, still baffled by the earlier events, could only nod a positive as she grabbed the weapon controls a bit on the clumsy side—almost deactivating the external shields by accident—and turned on the external cameras, having a clear view of the TIE fighters following them.

As each TIE burst into flames, Leia wondered why it was so easy this way. She could feel their signatures, so weak in the Force, disappearing with every shot that flew out of Lambda's side cannons... She knew that what was inside those ships were people... And she could kill them easily and close to no thought.

They wanted to kill her and so she kills them, completely contrary to the inquisitor who almost killed her a few minutes ago. What makes everything so different? Perhaps it's how personal it is to kill with a lightsaber? To see that look full of anger and terror, knowing that their time has come, the feelings spinning in the Force—

However, the Force screamed louder than anything else when several green lasers gathered in front of a Death Star crater.

It was like a prelude, the calm before a thunder hit the ground... And in just a second, the noises of battle were muzzled and twisted with screams. Leia, with bulging eyes, looked at the image of the rear external camera as Utapau silently imploded into a blinding ball of light and fire, and millions, billions of screams echoed loudly in the Force. Her body quivered, she lost all the air in her lungs, and she knew that the drops coming down from the corner of her eyes were tears. Her hand dropped the directional of the left cannon and pressed her chest, a sharp sigh as the screams grew louder and louder, reaching a deafening peak and, as if they had never existed, vanished soon after.

"Vader..." she called out, her eyes blurred and giants turning to him. She didn't notice the ship trembling one last time before everything in front of them was taken by a blue whirlwind, indicating safety.

"You heard it too." It was a statement and Leia remained silent as she watched the blond so solemn, so cold and calm, even though he had just heard the death of billions of people simultaneously on the Force. He seems to have heard that thought from her because with his head inclining to her, he gave her a soft look. "I never stopped hearing voices in the Force... None marked me more than your mother's."

She did not expect such frankness from him, she was even a little frightened, her eyes burning with how open they had been. Sinking in the chair, Leia felt restless, the Force extremely sensitive with billions of deaths, silenced however when Vader's signature commenced sounding a little louder in her mind. A slight tremor in their bond happened and an unexpected wave of warmth began to dissipate the cold as Leia instinctively closed her eyes, sighing strongly and letting whatever Vader was doing to her happen without any resistance... The first thing she saw was a smile. A warm smile, a velvet voice singing in the back of her mind suddenly, and before she knew it, she heard this voice mingle with hundreds of others, and together they all whispered a single word that had an intensive and embracing feeling of love; _"Ani"_.

It was her mother's voice. His biological mother. She didn't know how she knew it, but she knew.

Leia, without realizing it, held on tighter to the bond and pulled closer of the Force emanating from Vader and, feeling she was not pushing him out, he irradiated those feelings of latent love that came from his late wife to soothe her.

How ironic. The Lord of the Sith using feelings of love that his memories carried to quiet the almost catatonic mind of his daughter. It was an irony she received well. A comfortable silence was born between them, only the mechanical noises of the cockpit environment and the noise of hyperspace outside.

For a few good minutes, they just kept quiet and relaxed, taking advantage of the feelings left by a woman she didn't even know the name... And who sincerely she didn't care now. So much happened and in such a short time that her head was seriously burning with stress and exhaustion and all she wanted to do at that moment was fall flat on her bed.

"Vader..." She finally broke the silence calling his name and staring at him.

"Say it, daughter of mine." His voice sounded apathetic and distant and he didn't look directly at her, Leia managing to pick up, momentarily, something that resembles shame in the Force... he did everything to hide his face from her.

"Thank you." Leia took a deep breath, her hand unhooking the lightsaber she had taken from the inquisitor earlier and placing it on top of Lambda's counter. She has little idea why Vader wanted her to yoink the lightsaber, but she doesn't know precisely much about him to begin with. Vader didn't answer her, but the Force seemed too gloomy and dense around him... as if he was struggling to hide something.

It probably had to do with the thoughts about her mother... He must have really loved her. Leia chose, however, to ignore and convincing herself that he listened to her acknowledgment.

"And you." She turned to the droid, which was surprised by the attention at first, pointing at itself, and when Leia nodded, it just seemed even more surprised. "Thank you so much for your help. You were vital to us..." she was about to call it 'droid', but abstained herself. Leia stared at the droid in front of her who was shaped like a protocol droid, but much more stylized. Its painting was black colored, almost 30 centimeters smaller than her and it seemed well advanced for a common protocol droid, even if its movements were quite rigid. Two big red eyes stared at her, a very small oval-shaped mouth that glowed when it spoke. The droid had followed them since Mustafar and, honestly, they never minded giving him a name. She smirked when a name that would possibly irritate Vader swept through her head. "Revan."

The name caught Vader's attention and left the droid confused.

"Forgive me, Princess Leia?"

"I'm giving you a name—Revan."

"You are not naming a mere droid after a legendary Sith Lord!" Vader exclaimed, watching in amazement as his daughter crossed her arms and stared him in the eye. The droid, looking not only surprised, could not speak at all. Leia smiled in the interior; she got quite the reaction from Vader, but that dark state of his just dusted off in the wind. Figures.

"Why not? It's a tribute!"

"It's an insult! Droid, you—"

"Please!" she asked, opening her eyes a little more and tuning her voice to sound just a bit more fragile... And Vader froze on the spot. His mind knew that letting her name the droid that way was stupid and offensive, and it sounded quite horrible... But when she was being adorable like that, the word 'no' showed itself to be incredibly alien in his tongue. The temptation to just leave her was very, very existent, but by raising his chin, Vader managed to keep himself up.

"No, you'll not—"

"Please, Vader! I just want to tribute a great Sith Lord, there's no harm in it! Please?" she asked again, raising the big guns: softening even more her voice; saying his name and giving an excuse that would make her look innocent... She was too adorable and there was nothing he could do. He looked straight to her for a long moment and, again, Leia won when he released a defeated gasp and scratched his chin.

"Okay, I'll let you name the droid... Revan—but be aware that my thoughts are that it's an insult and a disrespect!"

"I think it's perfect. What do you think, Revan?" Leia asked, one of the hands resting on the droid's head that seemed even to stumble in his words.

"Princess Leia... A name, that's so kind of you. No droid I know has a name, thank you so much!" The droid thanked and Leia felt a little better about herself, pushing today's events to the edge of her mind.

"You are welcome. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to my room—" before she could complete her sentence and get up fully, Vader spoke first.

"First, daughter of mine, there is something I want to give you." Sticking his hand in his pocket—only now did Leia notice the three lightsabers hanging there—that was not what kept her attention, however: it was the Icomm 118 that Vader took out of his pocket and extended to her, his golden eyes staring at her with a well-disguised expectation. The Icomm was very old and a little beaten up...

_But it was a kriffing comm!_

"I have decided to give in to your requests and would've bought a comm for you, seeing your incredible improvement over the last few days. However, in light of recent events, I was only able to get this from one of the inquisitors. All the data has been deleted and the bugs have been removed during your little duel... A duel that we will talk about to a great extent, later. Remember our rules at all times; no talking to other people or connection that I cannot trace. Am I clear?" His voice had a threatening tone that would have brought not only a chill to her spine, but a roll of eyes too... keyword, would. It would if she hadn't been too busy being excited while removing the Icomm from Vader's hands and turning it on, the blank flat screen devoid of any personality showing it had been reset to factory settings. Just over 40% battery, bad signal... And kriffing, she now had a comm just for her again! _"Am I clear?"_ he repeated loudly in the Force, angrier and angrier as the seconds passed and she gave no answer.

"Of course, of course..." she answered almost ignoring him. Finally, she wouldn't have to live the boredom that is everyday life next to Vader with nothing to regain her sanity at the end of the day! "Your thoughts about my methods of teaching you are rather... disturbing." He said, clearly furious by her way of thinking and how inattentive she became having the apparatus in her possession for about 10 seconds. All Leia could offer him, however, was a shrug of the shoulders, too busy looking at the settings and being animated only by the existence of her comm.

"I have my own name... my own name." the droid spoke to himself in the distance.

Vader stared at her fervently and wondered if this was really a good idea. Leia ignored both of them and, headed straight for her room, she decided she was going to spend the rest of the day just messing with her beloved new Icomm!

“Not even a ‘thank you’…” Vader murmured to himself, pulling a great load of air and letting a heavy breath as he looked straight forward and commenced to focus on the dark side—he wouldn’t lie… Watching his daughter being so happy with his present made him lost all the grip on the dark side, the reflex of his face with blue eyes in the cockpit windows, however, irritating him very much. He made himself too open to the blinding Light as he transferred those memories filled with the love of Padmé to Leia... He has to be more careful in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter could be longer because of Vader's fight against the two inquisitors, but I preferred to give the spotlight to Leia's first battle!  
> As said by Vader, she is a prodigy with lightsaber combat and the Force, but even prodigies have their limits.  
> Leia finds it hard to kill people with lightsabers  
> Vader shares the best side of his memories about Padmé with Leia, ground working for the future!  
> Ahsoka! I just love her a fuckton, one of my top 5 characters in the franchise. But she is troubled by the memories of the past, even more now.  
> And Luke soon will begin his training with a lightsaber  
> So much material for the next chapters!  
> Hope to see you guys at the next one, bye for now! Thank u for your time!


	10. Leia and Vader have father-daughter moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here ends the Utapau arc! Hope u enjoy the start of the 3° arc!

_"The Death Star—"_

_"The Empire pronounces itself on the Death Star—"_

_"Twi-lek eye make-up tips."_

_"Blue virus has a worrying return on Naboo."_

_"6.5 billion people killed with the Death Star—"_

Leia snorted loudly, a bit of toothpaste flying out of her mouth. It's been a little over three days since Utapau was destroyed with the Death Star and it's still a vehement subject in the news. She hates to be reminded of those incessant creepy ululations of death at the bottom of her head, chills spreading across her body just by the mention of them... But it seems impossible to escape the fact that it did really happened. The Empire indeed killed 6.5 billion people, blew up a planet full of culture and its own society all because of her and Vader.

Utapau's escape has returned in her mind: Fader, full of power and capable of causing devastation, totally sunk into the dark side; her epiphany in finding the answer to the question Vader asked her a few days ago—feels like a lifetime—fighting against the inquisitor and, finally, the explosion of the planet. All in just one day.

She didn't know if she was really going to put up with anymore... things... of that kind. Ironically, a tremor in her skin told her that she was going to have much, much of those things for the journey and, honestly, that's what she expected. She was traveling the galaxy with Darth Vader, for the love of the Force!

Speaking of the devil.

As soon as she wiped her mouth with water and put her toothbrush in place, Vader walked in the door, eyes standing up and a sharp aura, an imposing pose as he entered the bathroom... Even in the morning routine, he had to be so naturally dramatic?

"Good morning, daughter of mine." he greeted her. She was about to greet him back, being stopped by a lost thought of hers.

"Why didn't you ask me by the Force if I was decent... You know, as always?" now that she said it out loud her curiosity increased a few degrees, her hand picking up one of the three new combs she had bought at the cosmetics shop at Utapau. Vader stared at her from above with low key interest and, with a singing smile that always indicated one of three things: he was going to be dramatic, he was going to talk about the Force and the Dark Side, or both. She puts all her chips on the last one.

"You still don't notice, but our Force bond has grown with a might beyond the regular. Your growing powers on the dark side of the Force and our father-daughter connection have created a link strong enough for me to unconsciously know the answers to such frivolous questions." His proud tone was loud and clear as he stood against the sink and began to brush his teeth.

"Yeah, cool." she shrugged, honestly not caring much. As uncomfortable as it was, she got used to being called 'daughter' by Vader very promptly... For it was quite annoying to have to "fix it" every time. Leia's thought, however, was cut when a tangle of her hair got stuck in the comb. "Damn, just when I've thought I had taken them all out during the bath."

Vader started staring at her as she pulled out the knot with the comb and she didn't care much at first. Then she found another knot. And another, and another. Her frustration began to grow at an uncontrolled rate and his eyes, once ignored, became astonishingly annoying to bear. Her kriff hair never had so many knots... But, thinking straight, at Alderaan she had the best shampoos and conditioners possible, as well as at least three people helping her fix her hair.

Compared to now, alone and with shampoos from a strange shop of a planet that no longer exists, the best she'd got was messy ponytails and sad looking braids.

Sighing loudly, she was about to throw her comb back into his place, confused when Vader's fleshy hand held her wrist. She stared at him, her frustration growing a little more with the height difference. She didn't care much at first, but now that she lives with him daily, having to keep raising her neck all the time is aching more than she would have imagined.

"You are as impatient as your mother when it comes to personal beauty. Especially hair issues." He shook his head, golden eyes looking at something in the mirror before he continued to do weird things. Letting go of her wrist, he took the comb in his mechanical hand and, with the flesh one, used the Force to pull the stool that was in the corner of the bathroom that Leia would use from time to time... She didn't like to admit it, but she was using it to reach for things in the tallest cabinets here in the bathroom—all the ship was made for the use of 2 meters tall black-armored dramatic giant and his guests, and her 150 centimeters, 155 when in her feet tips... Well, no comment to be added.

Placing the stool beneath her, he moved to stand behind her, and finally, things made sense when he guided her to sit on the stool, staring into the mirror in front of her. Kriffing Darth Vader was going to do something with her hair?!

That's the real kriff! Never in a thousand years, even if she got the Imperial throne right now she would let him play around with her hair—

"Sooth your mind, daughter of mine."

"Kriff no, keep your dirty Tatooinian little fingers away from my head, son of a blaster!" she tried to argue and get off the stool, but the Force stopped her, eyes wide open as she turned her face to the man behind her, utmost shocked. He was forcing her to stay here and be tortured in one of her most precious possessions?!

"One of your most precious possessions? Interesting... I feel at times that I am repeating myself too much, but _—_ " he stated and raised his hand to the other two combs and they flew towards him and just remained there, floating around her head. Honestly, she wants to learn this trick; leave things levitating in the air... But there are more important things now, like the fact that Vader is inches away from destroying her Temple! She tried very, very hard to move her hands and protect her precious hair, but Vader forced her to stand still and quietly on the stool... That thought suddenly made her feel incredibly childish and she concluded that she hates him with all her quintessence. " _—_ You are just like your mother."

Leia looked down, totally irritated and frustrated that Vader was going to vape her hair to oblivion... As much as he's was taking a long time to start. She didn't feel the pain of his movements coming in the next 10 seconds and, confused as to why her torture hadn't begun, she looked up again... Just to be surprised; Vader was with one of the combs pulling out and untangling her brown knots, barely making her feel any pain or realize that he was doing something to start with.

"She loved her hair more than she loved me, I fear. So many different hairstyles, so much money on thousands of hair problems and prevention—even hair therapy to keep the threads strong and great, brown just like yours until old age." Vader spoke in an almost dreamy tone, the comb in his hand moving serenely through her head, seldom clucking or having difficulties. She was marveled with his pro-efficiency

Who would have thought that the Imperial Executioner could be this great with women's hair?

Still, her mind was caught by his words about her mother. His stories and facts were almost hypnotic and, in one minute that Vader was combing and making her hair, she was no longer offering resistance.

"Did she had a lot of hair?"

"Unlike yours, her hair was much curlier, and it still dragged across the floor." That surprised Leia.

"You weren't kidding when you said about the costs of shampoo and conditioner." Leia commented, watching Vader begin to separate her brown hair with extreme care, almost as if it were silk and could break with the slightest tension.

"She always said to me she wanted to braid someone's hair. I wouldn't let do it with mine, and her handmaids were always too busy for this... I guess she would've loved to do that on yours."

"Yes... I think I would've liked it too."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as he began to run his fingers through her strands, separating ones and aligning others, forming a lot of braids with his hands and the Force, the combs still floating and doing the same process... It was a nice, mollifying touch. Vader's cold became very comforting to be near—it was full of feelings that she could catch with ease; pain, fear, betrayal, and others warmer, but these were buried deep—they were distant, far feelings that only served to show her what could happen if she did not use the Force properly... It is a protective cold that is always there to try to help and guide her.

And then, out of nowhere, a silence set in. It was a good, calm, and serene quietness. Leia sat there for minutes on end while she watched her biological father working on her hair... It almost didn't seem like there was an Empire and a Rebellion out there. That there was no weapon capable of blowing up planets. That there was no Force playing with the Sith and the Jedi to destroy both and, consequently, the galaxy...

Eventually, Vader finished and moved back a little, Leia shifting her head in silence to face the braids he had made. It was a strange hairstyle, with all the braids pulled from the front and gathered together like a Duro's spaghetti, those with the white cream and reddish noodles... She didn't recognize the origins, but she's sure she's seen that kind of hairstyle somewhere before.

"It was one of her mother's favorites." Of course, he would read her mind. Vader is still Vader, even after covering up the stress of a lifetime of changes and perception of reality from her shoulders for a few minutes. "It's origins are Naboo, common among noblewoman." And before she could say anything else, Vader moved to his sink, turned on the faucet, and started wiping his face fervently. Leia didn't understand fully, but the Force trembled in a way she was beginning to recognize... Whenever Vader talked about her mother, this strange feeling echoed in the Force.

Leia stared at him rubbing his face for a few more moments, turning her gaze to her comm there, still showing the news... And next to herself and her new hairstyle reflecting on the mirror—it was kind of unfamiliar, but she liked—and again back to Vader.

... There was this question in the back of her mind that has been bubbling up since the first day they talked in his physical therapy room on Mustafar.

But now she does recognize at least the surface of her biological mother's relationship with Vader; he loved her so much and, at some point, she betrayed him and something happened—she supposes that she died. Should she ask? Should she ask who was her, what she did? Who was her mother, the owner of that beautiful, solemn voice that whispered that... What does that word mean, after all?

She felt Vader's body stiffen in the Force and, as strange a question as it was, that's where she would begin to unravel this mystery.

"Vader..." she called him.

"Say it, daughter of mine."

"What does 'Ani' mean?" she had an idea, of course. The moment she started surfing the internet, forums, and conversations talking about 'Anakin Skywalker' and her were really common, and when she saw the video of him carrying her on his back—she still didn't know how to feel about it and her pride kept her from asking Vader—she put together 2 with 2. Anakin Skywalker, the hero of the Clone Wars who appeared as a legend in the stories her parents used to tell her, is Darth Vader.

Anakin, Ani. The resemblance is striking, but she has her doubts.

Still... The room seemed to weigh a few good kilos more, the very air became thin and difficult to breathe, crystalline cold trapping itself in the walls and the floor, all originating from Vader. The dark side lingered into the atmosphere and made shivers go up to her whole body, even more so when she felt in the Force that Vader was trying his best to suppress those feelings, but failing miserably—of the many things she has noticed, Vader has some 'triggers' that can totally change his mood. Ani goes to the list of not-very-good-triggers.

"It's a cursed name... There's nothing but weakness and death in that name." These words were said with him looking directly into her eyes, the yellowish sulfuric stronger as well as a new addition to the 'menacing tab' being a red ring of blood around the pupils, everything making her tremble, even if the Force whispered that, for now, there was no danger to worry about... Yet, the cold that scratched the surface of her skin, that stuck to the room and made the lights seem weaker. This kind of feeling was never good.

"It is beautiful." She commented, one of her hands squeezing the base of her sink with the freezing ice that permeated the room. Vader did not react to her comment, his eyes running through her face and his mouth straight and pressed, arms crossed. She felt discouraged to ask the next question because of that speechless answer, but she was never a person who stopped doing something just because of other people's responses. "Why did you stop using your real name, Anakin Skywalker?" The cold grew by unimaginable means, but all she did was raise her eyes directly to Vader's.

He wasn't going to hurt her... and she wasn't afraid of him.

At least three seconds passed... But it felt as if it were years staring into the depths of controlled hatred and dangerously close to a rapturous point. At the end of the three seconds, all and any danger coming from Vader began to simply flow away. He broke eye contact and, with a sadness entering the Force, he began to say.

"Because..." he stopped his own sentence and, as suddenly as it deteriorated, Vader's furious and cold anger came back to dominate. "Because it is the name of a weak and blind man, who sacrificed everything he once had for nothing—a name of a slave. Nothing more, nothing less." With one last look at her, Vader followed out of the bathroom and left without saying another word, leaving a dumbfounded Leia behind.

With a long breath, she didn't realize she was holding, Leia stared at herself in the mirror, her hands running between the various threads wrapped around each other in the back of her head. The emanating cold went away, leaving behind only doubts and confusion... Not as if it was different from Vader, of course.

 _Anakin Skywalker_... A slave name, weak and blind, a man that lost everything he once had; a name that Vader hates.

And yet, there was something. Something missing. Something he didn't tell, that he hid. Anakin Skywalker wasn't just that, there was something else there.

But... did she really want to get into that kind of stuff with Vader? His past seemed difficult, dirty, and complicated, full of things that turned him from a Jedi fighting for the Republic into the man who, in one night, destroyed the whole Jedi Order. And for getting too involved, she was getting wrapped in all this mess. She had already enough on her plate... Did she really want more?

Yes, Vader was her biological father... But that's it. If she wants to run away from this ship, she can do whatever time she wants, she just didn't do it because of her training. She is only here to train and improve in the Force, she doesn't need to get in touch with Vader, she doesn't have to help him redeem himself with his past nor help him come in terms with it, no matter what he is—they are political _enemies_ , for kriffing sake!

However... What is her current political vision and stance, anyway? Since her training began, politics has been a well commented, but hardly discussed topic.

And there's this thing that weighs too densely on the Force when she presumes she wants nothing to do with Vader... A weight that hurts, that pulls—that resembles regret...

Ah, her head hurt just thinking these things. There was so much going on that stopping and thinking, honestly, was too painful a task. Taking a deep breath and rubbing her eyes, suddenly feeling more drowsy and tired than when she woke up, Leia grabbed her comm, put it in her pocket, and went to the kitchen to grab a snack before today's training.

She would have plenty of time to put her thoughts in order... at night.

* * *

After the episode in the bathroom yesterday, she didn't talk much to Vader and he didn't try either to start a conversation, preferring to establish his stoic and silent factor to 200%, only showing any kind of sign he was still alive during their training and meditation. Leia observed him throughout the day and every time she tried to fathom his signature, she would feel heavier and heavier with the everlasting feelings of pain, betrayal, and sadness. Sleeping was a difficult task with the cold so murderous it penetrated the walls of the ship.

Tired of a bad night's sleep and tension in the Force, Leia decided she would try to 'make peace' with Vader, even if it would hurt her pride—everything for a good sleep, because train lightsaber combat tired as she is now? This is hell.

Swinging her twin lightsabers with finality, she sighed aloud and turned them off and hooked 'em on her belt, grabbing the towel Revan had brought for her and swept the sweat out of her forehead, putting it on her shoulder and using the Force to pause the music that was coming from her comm, resting on the bench Vader was sitting—his relief was very clear in the Force, but she didn't care a bit. She liked to listen to Aldeeranian Pop while training, so what?

With a grin, she returned her eyes to Revan and grabbed the water bottle he was holding for her. He was such a helpful droid.

"Thank you, Revan." she thanked the little droid, taking long sips and using the Force techniques she had learned to breathe more easily and steady. Lightsaber training after breakfast was always the kriffing worst—interestingly, Vader began the basics of another form, 'Soresu'. It was more defensive and aimed at blows that were normally not cruel and would kill the other person. It was a sharp response to her fight against the Inquisitor, Vader never the subtle type, after all.

Leia moved her gaze to the blond across the room who, sitting on the earlier mentioned metal bench with a toolbox beside him, was screwing something into his lightsaber. The Force around him wasn't as bad as yesterday, but it was pretty obvious that he wasn't getting any better by himself—and she doubted very much that he'd take the first step to adjust things—calmly sighing and searching for patience to deal with Vader and then passing the empty bottle to Revan, Leia walked up to where Vader was, taking the seat on the bench next to him. Vader spared her not a glance, but the Force made it plain that he knew she was there.

"What are you doing?" she decided to start casually.

"Calibrating the crystal inside the chamber." she moved to look at Vader's lightsaber momentarily. It was a totally black cylinder with an intersection between the crystal capsule and the emitter, gold as his eyes, but very thin in comparison with the rest of the hilt; how did she know that? Vader forced her to study it, even if she slept half the material he made. She was about to ask one more thing, but Vader was quicker. "I don't want the crystal exploding up in my face by a mere carelessness."

That phrase... caught her very off guard.

"Huh, the kriff?!" Exploding? What does he mean by explode? Vader stared at her with curiosity at the start, a smile not at all discreet when he realized something she hadn't clue about. And, kriff, it made her very angry, she hates not knowing something... Figures why it's so hard to control the dark side.

"Unlike natural kyber crystals, an artificial crystal is usually quite... unpredictable. Without proper care and regulation, the chance of it exploding and not only killing the individual carrying it, but everyone within a 20-meter radius is pretty consequential and real." Leia was quiet, eyebrows frowned, and when she finally faced at the two lightsabers on his belt or, better, the two bombs just waiting to detonate, she herself was about to explode.

"Why the kriff didn't you tell me, Vader?! I walk around with these things stuck to my waist all the vaping time! And just now you tell me that these things that are clearly toured in half can explode any damn minute?!"

"In my accounts, you didn't ask me."

"And you don't think that's basic knowledge to have?!"

"Coming from the fact that you didn't ask before, I figured you knew." His tone got a little more morbidly amused. "after all, it was in your study material, alongside a lot of minutiae details of lightsaber maintenance and administration." Leia could only freeze. Was it? She doesn't remember that. Vader had made it very clear that if she didn't take her studies seriously, he was going to take her comm away. Kriff.

Swallowing dry, straightening her posture, and pulling on the best possible political mask, Leia organized herself in just two seconds. Vader did not change his expression, but she could feel something close to a roll of the eye in the Force.

"I think I missed it. I'll review the material again and learn about it—"

"Your political cynicism, lies, and little word games don't work on me, daughter of mine. You have inherited the best of a politician from your mother, but this deception art has no use against me." Turning completely to her, Vader put his lightsaber aside and grabbed the toolbox in his hands, putting it between him and her. "You neglected parts of your studies and later I will make a point of finding them—but the theory is not enough. You will learn here and now from me."

Oh no... what the kriff has she got herself into?

She stared at Vader's stone look in her direction, looking for some loophole so she could get out of this surprise lesson, but nothing emerged and the Force seemed to whisper that begging in the usual way wouldn't get her out of this pickle... Sighing deeply, Leia felt the Force around her as she thought on the bright side; the lamp that was illuminating the room, because it was the only thing bright here... she should've really studied that piece of information about lightsaber maintenance. Well, at least it’s a nice piece of knowledge on how to prevent her weapons to explode and prematurely kill her. Maybe this is the bright side?

"It's a good thing that you can move your youthful mind to the things of importance, as opposed to getting caught up too much in unimportant discussions."

"What?" she said before she could really think.

"I felt on our bond how much you wanted to 'make peace' with me. There's nothing to resolve with me, daughter of mine." He said quick and harshly, the golden eyes staring at her—more difficult than getting used to the difference in height was the fact that Vader seemed to be practically her age—yet, her mind picked up on those words... Vader tried to hide it well as he spoke, but she could feel many, many remnants of dishonesty. He was lying to her to some degree.

Why was he lying? He probably didn't want to talk about it, much less face it. The past was a very sensitive topic for Vader... Her curiosity was very high, true, but she refrained from asking. Eventually, she was going to ask all these questions—who is my mother; who was she to you; how was your life as a Jedi; why did you stop being Anakin Skywalker, and finally how did you become Darth Vader—so many questions she wanted to ask...

She'll find a way to do them all—eventually.

"Now, let us forget the outside world and focus only on what is essential; your teachings. Take one of your lightsabers and start unscrewing this and... this." As soon as Leia took the Lightsaber in her hands, Vader pointed to two little buttons far away from the ignitor of the blade. "Those parts are the size and power adjuster, respectively, of the blade. These parts are of utmost importance because a wrong combination of power and size can either lack power in a very large blade or overload too much power on a very small blade. Use this to unscrew both." he took one of the three screwdrivers and handed it to her.

Leia didn't feel initially, but there were some animation and increasing light in Vader's Force signature that went against all the deadly cold that he exhaled until right about now.

"Like that?" she asked as she carefully dewaxed the size adjuster. It was difficult to do this on a surface of something that wasn't actually nailed to a wall of something alike, Leia biting her lip in crescent frustration while the lightsaber trembled with its few spinning movements. Vader seemed to notice and, putting his flesh hand on hers firmly, he got her attention.

"Don't make your work a pain. Try to imagine your lightsaber as a stationary object—the same way you pull or push something with the Force, picture the lightsaber stuck between your fingers."

"Vader... are you teaching me a lesson within a lesson?" she asked as she noticed that this would be another lesson about the Force. What a surprise.

"And what's wrong with that?" he faced her, waiting for an answer that never came. She just rolled his eyes and snorted, pulling the air into her lungs as she started the same process to learn a new Force technique: close her eyes and centered on the Force, Vader's signature watching her. It wasn't helping her, but indeed making sure that if anything happened, he would be there to solve it. She soon managed to visualize with ease her lightsaber in her hand and, as he said, began to imagine this lightsaber trapped between her fingers... But a bad feeling ran through the Force that sent chills throughout her spine, the very Force pounding incoming danger. _"Caution."_ His voice came to her through their Force bond. _"Too much power and the lightsaber explodes. Put too little, and you have no results. There is a certain balance to each thing and a different approach to be taken. I'll be here, so test as you desire."_

Each thing has its own balance and different approach... Honestly, it was amazing advice that it didn't just work to adjust a plasmatic blade-shaped bomb. Vader was full of those little surprises; good hairdresser, great teacher, and even joking once in a while—all under thick layers of cringe, drama, and, well, Vader himself.

It took a few good minutes, about thirty, while Leia searched for the right amount of power to keep the lightsaber stuck in the air, all the times having a great portion of her mind revolving on maintaining the dark side under her foot; the frustration of this lesson was prominent and it was really getting the best of her to succeed. Force control was rather challenging, especially when she had to quantify it, but when she finally opened her eyes and stared at her lightsaber in front of her and carefully unfurled her fingers from its cylindrical shape, she felt a sense of shining progress; the lightsaber remained there, floating as if someone was firmly holding it.

She was really amazing with the Force!

"Vader..."

"Say it, daughter of mine." As always, there was pride washed away in his voice.

"I did it!"

"Yes, you did. Now, let us continue our main lesson." He recalled her and, with a confident smile on her face, Leia grabbed the screwdriver she had put aside in her once more, holding the saber with some care as she started to unscrew as if it were stuck to the wall. She was incredible! The lesson began almost like a punishment, but she'd lie if she said she wasn't enjoying by now.

Vader continued to educate her during the lesson both sitting next to each other while he pointed out exactly how she had to do this and that; how to set a certain parameter in each mechanized component, how to unscrew and remove each part of the lightsaber without it exploding in her face and even more lessons on how to levitate and hold things still in the Force—but she still couldn't bring things to herself and stop them in the air, which resulted in one of the screws flying straight to her forehead and leaving a little callus.

None of them noticed the Force singing and twirling around 'em, totally different from the normal cold it was. It was still the dark and penetrating, but... it was fed by Vader's happiness and animation in teaching mechanics to his daughter, something he always dreamed of from the first moment he touched Padmé's pregnant belly. Leia, on the other hand, he was having fun and feeling even more incredible than before. She could do such admirable and useful things with the Force, she could evolve so much!

Her resentment against her adoptive parents threatened to grow, but she knew better, at least better than at the beginning of her training. It was the dark side trying to control her and change even more her perspective, and so she enslaved it with her focus, Vader's closeness helping.

Just like it was in the bathroom when he did her hair, at this moment there was no Empire, no Rebellion, no Death Star, or anything else... Just them and a good feeling in the Force—so she noticed it, almost dizzying by how different it was. She wondered if this is how peace felt through the Force. It surely felt like one.

With that moment of peace, Leia wondered if it was a good time to talk. There was no 100% certainty, so she decided to start by testing the waters.

"Do you have any stories from the past to tell, Vader?" Wide, vague, and nothing straight to the point. It was a good question, but his answer would be the judge of that. Vader moved to stare directly at her eyes while using the Force to keep the artificial red kyber crystal floating in the air as she adjusted the pressure of the crystal chamber and then moved his look at the ceiling, quiet momentarily... Some blackness threatened to emerge, but Vader took a deep breath and killed any dark feelings before they could grow too much.

"You have a strange fixation on my past... well, I did say it was for you to turn to me when you had questions." Leia could only shrug her shoulders, smiling inwardly as you saw that you were going to get a story and, perhaps, a piece of information. Vader kept thinking for about ten seconds before continuing to speak. "During the Clone Wars, I trained a togruta named Ahsoka Tano. She was like you; she used two lightsabers, had a direct and difficult personality, and... a woman whom I respect a lot to today."

"Wow. You, respecting a Jedi." She spoke, suddenly interested in this Ahsoka Tano.

"She wasn't exactly a Jedi, but she wasn't a Sith either. She lived by her own concepts—she still participated in the Order and followed the Council rules. She might have been different from the others, but as a Jedi, she was expected to be like everyone else; brought a toddler, raised to have utmost praise to the Order, and respect their very rule. This until, one day, all her confidence in the Order withered like a dying rose. During a terrorist attack on the Jedi Temple, Ahsoka was framed and, instead of being judged by the Order or be given the benefit of doubt, the Senate demanded that she be tried before the Republic... It is not necessary a very clever mindset to comprehend that everything was a farce and that she would be condemned. She was only 17 years old at the time, she fought for years for the Jedi in a war against lifeless machines, and when she needed the most, the Order turned its back on her."

Leia did not notice that she had stopped messing with the tool in her hand, concentrated too much on Vader's story. He pointed it at her and carefully he lowered the red crystal back into the chamber and she began to seal it.

"Eventually, I found out who the terrorist and was able to prove her innocence. The Order tried to win her back as if nothing had happened, saying it was her duty to accept everything as a trial given by the Force, but she would not see things like this. That day, she made a decision that many wanted, but that almost nobody had the will nor the courage to do; she left the Jedi Order. They did not admit to being wrong for what they did to her, much less helped her after she left, and yet, on her own, she managed to stay alive and live on her own rules. I respect her willpower in maintaining her own philosophy and using it as such, as opposed to throwing an entire peacekeeping theology away and go to war, sending young men and women to their deaths, as the Order has done for many years."

In silence, Leia pondered about this Ahsoka Tano. Vader spoke of her with such admiration and, she dares to say, with fondness. A sudden question passed in her mind as she closed her lightsaber chamber.

"And is she alive today?" Vader took a few seconds to answer.

"Yes, she is."

She wanted to ask 'why you didn't contact her' but, with difficulty, she abstained. This would probably start another discussion and end with Vader in the same way as yesterday and she would suffer an even worse night's sleep... kriff, just thinking about the last makes her tired. This entered the list of several questions she would ask him at some point. However, another question was popping into his head.

"As a matter of fact, why did you tell me this story?" Of all the stories she imagines Vader could tell about his life—a long one, after all. 40 years, a marriage, years of serving in the Clone Wars, a Jedi, and Second in Line for the Imperial throne—he would soon choose a very random story about his Jedi apprentice.

Vader hovered a keen-edged look at her as she finally finished closing the lightsaber and screwing the regulators, the atmosphere becoming incredibly sinister and dimmer around the two. Holding the air in his lungs, Leia faced him with the same intensity of his golden eyes... Whatever he was going to say, the Force practically tinned it was important.

"There's another story I want to tell you... Did you ever heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis, the wise?" he asked, eyes locked with hers. Leia vaguely remembered hearing about it while listening to the material that spoke of the ancient Sith Lords—she had a datapad with all the material Vader wanted her to study. It couldn't connect to the internet, so it was useless besides studying—but she didn't pay much attention; after all, they all looked the same. Hate, anger, dark side, Jedi killer, and all this jazz. She hadn't to answer for Vader kept talking. "I thought not. Darth Plagueis was one of the most recent Sith Lord and by far the closest to achieving a power beyond understanding in the Force; immortality. His knowledge of the Dark Side is an endless library that a lifetime of studying isn't enough to understand the extent of Plagueis' thinking. He managed to manipulate the very thing that keeps us alive, connected to the Force, to prevent people from dying. Then his apprentice, Darth Sidious, the Emperor, killed him in his sleep, leaving all his accomplishments to one power-hungry egoistical man." It was an abrupt end to the story and made Leia open his eyes a little more, the air leaving his mouth slowly.

This kind of power, knowledge... Be able to manipulate the essence of life and kept people from dying...

"It's possible to learn this power?" she asked.

"Yes, it is."

"How?"

"By surrendering everything." He said, and once again Leia was confused. The silence was all Vader needed to continue. "your time, your hobbies, the people around you, your future, and yourself. If you surrender everything to the dark side, if you let it totally consume you, you will eventually find that power... or lose your life along the way. You can have anything if you are willing to sacrifice." the way Vader spoke, the weight in his voice, the gloomy sarcasm, and the growing darkness feeling in the Force...

"You tried... you seek this power."

"Ahsoka Tano gave her everything to the Order. Everything single thing; her time, her life, her sanity, and, in the end, the Order betrayed her. Darth Plagueis gave his life, his time, his future to the dark side, and his researches for the sake of unimaginable power, but was betrayed by his student., the closest to him." Rising from the bench, he kept his gaze on Leia, the sulfuric there stronger than ever. "In Utapau, you understood and found the answer to my first question." Leia breathed in surprise with this sentence. She had forgotten to tell him that—too much was happening at the time.

"The Jedi and the Sith are slaves to the Force, they play its games and destroy the galaxy because of it." She said more in reflection than anything else, Vader nodding with her words.

"That was your first lesson in the Way of the Sith. Your second is this: Darth Plagueis and Ahsoka Tano, a Sith and a Jedi, what makes them so equal based on the stories I told you? Any question you must come to me and only me, the dark side will tempt you with the power of Plagueis, your mind will fight against your vision of the Republic and the Republic that sent a 14-year-old girl repeatedly to her death against soulless machines. Come to your conclusions, use my teachings, turn to me in case you are in doubt, and above all, keep yourself and what you are real. This is your second lesson on the Way of the Sith." And, raising his hand to pull his black cloak across the room with the Force, Vader threw it on his shoulders and walked out towards the door. "I'll be in the kitchen preparing a snack. Do you want anything?"

She stared at him oddly, silently, and after almost five seconds, she said:

"No, I'm fine." she wasn't. She really wasn't. Without another word, Vader left the room with Revan following close, leaving Leia totally confused and stunned behind.

 _By the force_... There was so much to think about.

* * *

Leia decided to start a diary. It had been 20 days since she started seeing the world through the Force at Mustafar. 1 day in Mustafar, 4 days to Utapau, and 15 days of travel so far to their next big stop, today is the day they would land. A lot has changed in the meantime and she is becoming more and more used to Vader's presence in her life. After twenty days in the presence of the man, she decided that she already knew his surface more than enough to start writing about him.

Placing a song from one of her favorite Aldeeran band—Spice Aldeeranians—the name has always been a controversy, but she likes them songs, Leia opened the notebook app and entered the "diary" section in her comm.

_So, Vader... Vader is a difficult topic to explain—and that is a euphemism._

It was the first line she typed, and now she had to elaborate.

_He doesn't exactly have a good mood or a bad mood, he's always changing too much or just keeping everything to himself. He likes to stay mysterious and hates to talk about his past, but whenever she asks nicely he is willing, even if complaining, to tell pieces of himself—however, there are lines she can't cross._

_Vader, why did you stop being a Jedi?_

_Who was my mother? What was she like?_

_What was your childhood like on Tatooine?_

_Why are you so afraid of fire?_

_Why did you stop calling yourself Anakin Skywalker and start being called Darth Vader?_

_These were questions he usually ignored or gave a very vague answer to. After that, the whole ship would get colder and the walls would resemble to whisper, the dark side even more difficult to control and, sometimes, she even felt as if she was burning again, as she did in her bed on Mustafar. Luckily, it wasn't as painful as the first time, but she began to refrain from asking these things. The thing about Vader that he always wants to participate in her things, and if he is doing something, he wanted—forced—her to participate. Just yesterday she was painting her nails and he came to ask if he could help her with that, saying that he used to help her mother with that kind of thing and could even draw._

_I kicked him out of the room, furious. Boundaries, please!_

_On the other side, he always wants me to help him with the smallest things; tampering with the components and interiors of the droid, fixing the ship, cooking a lot of different recipes he finds scattered on the internet, lightsaber sparring, meditating, and everything!_

_Why that? No idea. He says it's to participate in her growth as his Sith Apprentice, but the Force tells her there's something else._

_Vader also seems to praise my biological mother as if she were the most amazing person in existence, just as he loves comparing me to her. Who will she be? The Force, strangely, trembled with this thought._

_And I think he hates himself. Since he taught me how to keep my thoughts to myself and raise shields of the Force, I've been able to get more and more traces of his feelings into the Force. He hates to look at his reflection, he doesn't mind getting hurt as much as he doesn't like bacta and he has a great aversion to fire. Recently I left a five-leaf loaf of bread in the oven for a long time and when I took it out it was on fire... The terror he exhaled was something I never imagined coming from him, looking at the flames and black smoke with wild eyes and horrified in the Force._

_Well... What else is there to talk about Vader but the obvious? He is incredibly powerful, even more so now that he has regained a great part of his movements and is getting used to Soresu's training—the last is a literal hell, so she prefers to stay mostly in Shii-Cho, where she can attack and not have to stand defense against Vader's truckload attacks—a good pilot, incredibly boring or uncomfortable to be close, a nice hairdresser and the rest is what you'd expect from a Sith Lord._

Scratching the side of her cheek, Leia decided to end the session for now, but not nailing its end dot. The ship shook slightly, showing that they had come out of hyperspace. Soon, Revan was going to come through the door saying that they had reached their destination but, as she had already finished everything, she decided to go to the cockpit to see on which planet they were going to land.

Getting up from her chair and calling the comm with the Force, Leia looked around the room before she started to get ready for the landing. Very little has changed from that grey single-bed, windowless room with only one chest of drawers to keep on her clothes. They stopped at two small planets during those 15 days, either to buy supplies or to refuel the ship. First, she bought herself a table and a chair and new sheets; after all, she needed a place to put her extensive make-up collection and new sheets were always good to have.

Besides the make-up on her table, there were also some tools that she used once in a while to recalibrate and see if there was anything wrong with her lightsabers, occasionally messing around with Revan's hardware and software—she didn't want to admit it, but mechanics became one of her hobbies when she is not studying, caring about her beauty or playing around on the internet.

Vader, unfortunately, prevented her from buying new clothes that were not black. The kriffing bastard.

Tucking her black skirt around her waist before lowering herself to hold the black shoelaces of her guess-the-color boots, Leia pulled both sleeves of her black shirt up to her elbows, looking at herself in her mirror stuck to the wall to see if she was pretty as always. Vader had taught her last week how to make that beautiful Naboo hairstyle, the only hairstyles he knows—and she liked it quite a bit. Decided to just touch up her lipstick and a little more blush on her cheeks, Leia soon attached both lightsabers in her belt and went on her way to the cockpit, bumping into Revan on the way.

"Good to see you, Revan—what is the standard time anyway?"

"It is currently 1300, Princess Leia."

"We are landing early on the planet, therefore. Can you pick me up some of yesterday's leftovers, Revan? I want to get there on a full stomach." Today's lunch had burned, courtesy of her fixing herself too much on a topic about the recent political tensions between the Empire and the Rebellion, so she only ate a bowl of grain herself. However, just remembering the political word already made her mood worse, closing her eyes to concentrate and prevent the darkness whispers from getting too strong in her mind. So much happened after the destruction of Utapau, it was horribly puzzling now that she is away from this sphere of interests.

She was about to continue her thinking about it, but the door in front of her suddenly opened and she had noticed that she had reached the cockpit.

Vader did not turn to look at her as she entered, Leia taking her place in the co-pilot's chair. Her mind forgot politics for a while as she watched the great blue and green planet in front of her, a welcome surprise in the back of her mind.

"It is as beautiful as I remember." She commented, hypnotized by the planet...

"It was your mother's planet... I would expect nothing less."

"You are from Tatooine; anywhere is much more than you can expect."

"Do you really want to give birth to another one argument that'd lead us to the current political state of Nar Shaardar?" She rolled her eyes over this phrase. That discussion was one of their worst in the political field so, with a tactical retreat—not a defeat, just running to guarantee her sweet victory over him another time—she started to wonder about the Force surrounding the planet. It was really different from every planet she has been on since she started to see things throughout the Force, a rather strange feeling about it...

There was something in the Force, some strange buzzing. A presence in the depths of her mind that was approaching, but it was totally different from anything she had witnessed before. She stared at Vader in the corner of her eye, who didn't seem to react to that feeling, lost in looking at the planet—or in his memories, she bet her chips on the latter one.

Leia, however, found herself increasingly anxious as the ship approached Naboo. Here was the place where her mother came from, her biological mother... Vader told her so much about her, but so far she doesn't know her name. With her chest swollen in expectation, Leia imagined that today she would have answers about this woman who carried her for nine months.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Naboo arc! Man, a lot is going to happen in this arc!  
> (Alderaanian pop = City pop / Spice Alderaanians = Spice Girls)  
> This chapter, as it says in the title, is all about father-daughter moments! Vader does Leia's hair, Vader teaches Leia mechanics, tell her stories, and gives her the 2° step in the Way of the Sith  
> The 1° step is all about Leia understanding the nature of the Force and both Orders, what about the second?  
> She has a lot of questions too, and Vader is not true to his own advice; "Seek me if you have questions", and this behavior shall have its consequences.  
> And what about the presence Leia feels close to Naboo?  
> Hope to see you guys next chapter, thank you for your time and patience with my English! Bye for now!


	11. Leia is pissed with politics and Vader is quite sad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jesus Christ, finally. Things here in my state are edging hell, holy shit. And to think my family moved to Amapá because Espírito Santo was a hellish hole...  
> Well, hope u guys like the chapter -- sorry for the time without chapters.

**In the last chapters: Utapau bite the dust, a new and unknown Vader (Fader) is with the Emperor, Ahsoka is training Luke and Obi-wan is going to recover Leia. Vader and Leia, after 15 days of travel, arrive on Naboo; We are in the 3° Arc.**

* * *

Obi-wan took a deep breath, both legs crossed while patiently waiting. He could feel the slightest disturbance in the Force when Vader left hyperspace, the spark running through the almost dead bond and so much forgotten of master and apprentice. Obi-wan was protecting his presence with the help of the other Master Jedi with rust hair beside him, a tiny biped droid, mostly well-cared but also who seemed to have seen its fair share of the galaxy, was quiet on his shoulder. For a fortnight they have been tracking the real Vader, either by Force or by connections on remote planets near Utapau.

It was a sad surprise to discover that he was coming to Naboo... Not much, the old master thought with a tired look inside the dark and cold cabin of Mantis, Master Jedi Cal Kestis ship.

Obi-wan couldn't thank enough the man at his mid-thirdies, meditating with him and helping him to hide his presence. He agreed to help him stop Vader and rescue Leia Organa immediately when the eldest quoted his former student. Obi-wan hadn't any doubt that a direct fight with Anakin in his young self would be his death, something he had already accepted... But if he died before saving her, everything would be meaningless and the chances of a free galaxy would become even poorer. Cal had agreed to make her his padawan, for Kenobi's delight.

Looking at the corner of his eye at the other Jedi master, Obi-wan felt a weight in his heart as he watched the boy clenching his fists and trying his best to contain the cold fury that plagued his mind with the Force. The old man was about to talk, but Cal went faster, opening his eyes and staring straight at Obi-wan, hiding the length of his sorrow and anger.

"Don't worry... I won't be dominated."

"I trust you, Master Cal."

Both masters returned to the silence of meditation, waiting for the right time to set the second part of the plan in motion... A very simple plan in words; Kenobi will attract Vader's attention and engage in combat while Cal destroys Vader's ship's hyperdrive, later to rescue Leia and take her to the Mantis and get her out of Naboo as soon as possible, and in the meantime, Kenobi will probably already joined the Force. He trained as much as he could these last days seeking Vader to increase Cal's window of time to escape, but he doesn't suspect at all that he'll survive a fight against his former student.

He just prays to the Force that it's not too late for the girl.

* * *

Theed has always surprised her.

The architecture was beautiful; houses and vaulted buildings, made of marble and aged to light shades of gold and copper, blending with the bold stones that spread over floors, fences, handrails, roads, and bridges. And all the crystal-clear water, hell she loves the water here on Naboo! And the diverse vegetation, the wonderful smells created by the mix of nature and man-made civilization in such harmony, so different when side-by-side with the sterilized smell of plasma and metal which the Lambda has and by the Force, she wants to forget those smells and sensations of the alleys full of rubbish and excrement on Utapau.

No, Naboo was no scum planet in the Outer Rim. It was a beautiful, romantic place full of natural beauties made with perfect synchronization by humans and flora. There were no disgusting thieves peeping on every corner, nor slave owners sickening her... For her who grew up in royalty, it was the perfect place.

So... why the kriff it looks like a post-war zone?!

Leia was with her chin down as she left the unofficial spaceport in the farthest parts of the royal palace—after she performed a mental trick on the owner and saved some credits—as she entered a slow and rhythmical walk beside Vader, both obscured in their cloaks. The streets were always so full of life and people, but now both were in short supply. People were wearing masks on their faces, looking ugly at each other and keeping their distance, almost as if they suspected each other. Some people even had blasters in plain sight and stared at her longer than she found comfortable.

Naboo was never like that. People were never afraid of each other or showed their weapons so freely. The planet had an inherent mark of being incredibly peaceful and diplomatic, disgusted by the approach that required a firearm. With a frown, she commented with disdain.

"Something the Empire did? I wouldn't be surprised..."

"I doubt it. The Empire sees Naboo as a planet weak in resources and worthy people in their ranks—there is no more than a handful of military universities, the main export is art and viniculture, a dreadful strategic place and a history that laughter couldn't even dignify." Vader said using a distant tone, almost as if he didn't believe his own words. As it was her mother's planet, she imagined that Vader held Naboo very close to his heart... Which is strange. Not scary or funny as she would have thought almost a month ago, but complex anyway.

Leia looked at a street vendor, her stall exhaling a strange smell... She frowned in disgust when she noticed the various steel cages with several thin and ugly animals inside. The saleswoman stared at her with an expression that she imagined was also disgust, even if she couldn't see straight with the mask she was wearing. She never saw this kind of thing in Naboo... Cooking poor animals in these conditions was a thing that only happened in the Outer Rim.

Now that she looked closely, the sun seemed to shine less bright, the streets seemed dirtier and people more and more distant from each other.

"'No entry without a mask', 'use necessary protection'..." Vader whispered a little loudly, drawing her attention. He usually didn't pay much attention to the shops of the planets they visited, always seeming just to know how to locate himself accurately and eventually getting where he wanted. However, the Force showed her the feeling that he tried to hide not so deeply; confusion and nostalgia... nostalgia for something bad.

"You seem to know what's happening here." She whispered.

"An idea, daughter of mine." he didn't keep talking after that, which caused Leia to raise an eyebrow. She was about to ask what this 'idea' was, but a person wearing a mask, white gloves, and a plastic thing on the front of his face came towards her stretching a piece of paper. Instinctively and politely Leia took it, trying to give a second look at the man's face, failing to see that he was already moving to another person who tried to get away from him. His clothes were very strange too... But what caught her attention the most was the pin that said "Democracy!".

She continued to walk beside Vader a little bit slower as she read the paper the man handed her.

"Down with the monarchy...?" her face twisted entirely with the information, Vader having a curious laugh of fun at her side. "What?"

"No doubt that would eventually happen. These fools truly believed young queens could march them to prosperity every time. Only one woman I knew could command this planet at 14 and not have herself ripped apart by all the policy and dirty work such a position carries." He commented, almost as a late reflection. That phrase caught Leia's full attention because, in a way, it carried admiration, admiration for an implicated queen of Naboo that led the planet out of a crisis... But it was impossible. Vader would never respect a person like her... Her heart froze a little more, that growing feeling of anxiety that she'd soon discover something big, even if the Force leaned into her ears and whispered that she already knew.

Leia, with a sigh, put down the pamphlet, a little shaken on the inside. The people of Naboo were trying to demean the Monarchy then? That made her really pissed off... she was still the 'Princess' of Aldeeran, after all.

For a few more minutes they walked quietly through the streets of Naboo, Vader walking with a sense of burden towards some specific place, the Force growing into a tragic feeling that seemed to whisper that they would soon get to the place he wanted. And yet... she couldn't bear any more minute o... this. Naboo in her memories is that beautiful place, full of good and lively people, with light and natural green and marvelous, glided copper...

"Everything changes with time, daughter of mine. It is the natural course of the galaxy. For good or worse." Vader caught her attention and she bit her tongue metaphorically. She lost control of her mind and let her thoughts slip into the Force. Vader did not even slow his pace. "And the vision of certain things, especially people, is one that you should not hold consistently while you do live." Both pieces of advice, now that she analyzes them, were good advice and reflected a lot of reality... She just didn't understand why Vader was saying them now. Maybe it had something to do with her second lesson in the Way of the Sith? She's been thinking about it all the time in her study and training, but she never really finds the connection between Ahsoka Tano and Darth Plagueis...

With these thoughts more focused on the Force and the unbearable gloomy feelings looming over Naboo, Leia decided to absorb herself into a light walking meditation. She could feel if someone was about to bump into her, but she couldn't really organize her thoughts and let the darkness of her memories run through her without putting herself in danger; as a whole, it was a good meditation when she just wanted to pass the time.

Soon his thoughts turned to his progress in the Force and its secrets. There was a fascination that she began to appreciate only recently in studying the Force; knowing about deeds considered impossible for her until a month ago and which she could now perform with the wave of her hand. To know of so many people from the past that in a mere month she had overcome in a matter of power. Still... She has really thought more about Plagueis than anything else. She's been asking Vader a lot about old Muun, but all she got were vague words that, in a way, she understood. Plagueis was Sidious's master and Sidious killed him, keeping all the knowledge of man to himself. And the way Vader said Sidious treated him... It was no surprise that her father was so ignorant about the teachings of that particular Sith Lord.

But that did not satisfy this growing thirst for knowledge within her, nothing quenching it and thus making it grow and grow by the day. The words about his infinite knowledge, the wisdom of preserving life... And...

To be immortal.

However, the Force resounded around her like a thump against a gong, reality returning to her in sudden exasperation. Overlooking her surroundings with her chocolate eyes, the first thing she saw was a long series of steps carved in stone. By the sounds a little further from the city, she knew that they had drifted away a little bit from Theed... There was a plate carved from a beautiful wood of a native Naboo tree, written with cursive basic letters and a photo of a tiny, beautiful brunette woman, but who had her face painted white and wore one of the most complex hairstyles she had ever seen in her life.

But none of that really caught her attention. It was Vader.

With her eyes wide-open and unspoken, she watched the man lowering the hood of his cape, the gold locks flowing with the icy breeze and his skin paler than hers, but strong and full of muscles, framing his eyes perfectly... His blue eyes.

"From here on, daughter of mine, you ought not to use the Force or turn on your lightsabers. That is an order." Vader stared into her soul, those pools of blue were laden with an aura that she could discern only as... pained. Leia, however, didn't hear it very well at first and just whispered.

"I ca... I can't." she swallowed dry and completed herself. "I don't feel you... in the Force."

Vader didn't answer her at first and, with his wavy black cape, began to climb the steps silently. Leia, shocked, set out to follow him abruptly in a stroll, too stunned to murmur anything else. With no real answers and a billion questions, Leia just stared at her surroundings, finally understanding the place she was... And this brought ice enough in her body to stop momentarily her lungs.

She knows this place. She never came here, but she knows what it is... But it's impossible—it's totally impossible!

The place was nothing but beautiful. It was in the middle of a long and extensive river beyond Theed, the bridge that traversed up to here made of a lovely rustic kind of stone, professionally made just to take to that person's place of rest. After the bridge, on a small round artificial islet, there was a small patio that led to a staircase, an immense variety of panels made of stone and containing images of this person, a round fountain sculpted in the most elegant Naboonian marble possible being the only thing that stood between the bridge and the stairs. Together with stone, the vegetation that surrounded and covered almost everything was well-diversified, tall canopy trees and flowering bushes ranging from so much color tones and, finally, at the end of the staircase, there was an open mausoleum, raised columns, and a vaulted roof, the whole roof painted with panels that reflected history; a war. Machines and a circle of steel in the sky; a young queen and two Jedi knights, humans and gungans. The vegetation now consisted practically of white flowers, covering the ground and the thick columns. The ground was reflective too and everything, even the smallest details, was made by hand... It was simply perfect.

Just to keep that coffin in the middle of everything safe, a perfect view of Theed and the river.

But... No.

The columns had graffiti of strange symbols all over the place. Several dead flowers, insects, and other animal waste scattered around, lifeless leaves piled up everywhere. There were also other plastics and packages that she wouldn't even name, the paintings on the ceiling were damaged and cracked at some places... Adding to the grey, cloudy sky of Naboo, the beauty of the place where Padmé Amidala rest eternally had been stained.

In an almost catatonic state there at the high of the steps, sweaty hands and glazed eyes running from there to here, Leia could say nothing but; "What the kriffing...".

She was a little startled to see a black shadow looming slowly towards the woman's coffin, only to remember that it was, indeed, Darth Vader... his lack of the presence in Force had affected her greatly since her first contact with the Force was through him and, even if she did not like it, he was always present, almost like a pleasant noise in the back of her mind.

But none of it mattered. All that mattered now was when Vader stood in front of the glass coffin... Forcing her trembling legs to walk, Leia was pure anxiety and her heart reached a thousand, the few steps to approach him being like walking against a sandstorm. Her chest hurt, her breath became frigid, and when she stopped beside Vader and almost couldn't look at him in the eye... She knew.

In fact, she always knew.

The look of loss and sadness, but complete acidic betrayal in Vader's eyes was almost impossible to lose. He raised his mechanical hand, but stopped in the middle of the way and went back, approaching with his flesh one... He carefully touched the coffin, the eyes stuck in the face of the beautiful and incredible woman inside.

"It was her all along..." Shaking her head for a moment, Leia faced Padmé Amidala's pregnant belly, a bad feeling running through her that left a strange taste on her tongue. Swallowing dry, Leia took an extra moment to take a good look not at the woman she always admired as a politician but now with something new, a feeling of heaviness and longing... the woman who gave her life. Her beauty was simply angelic. Hair impossibly long with a shining chestnut coloration that made her slightly jealous, her face looking like that of a doll, something that only completed her small stature and natural marvel... She must have had such a beautiful smile, such a beautiful voice. Suddenly she heard that "Ani" again, whispered by her voice in Vader's memories. "How did she die?"

Vader seemed to freeze only for a moment. His hand ran through the glass coffin, graffitied with strange symbols and full of dirt for lack of care.

His lack of response made her think, the Force nudging her and bringing order to her flow of thoughts and soon enough, Leia remembered the state of pure anger, sadness, and betrayal she felt coming from Vader, from a Vader from the past when she mused for the first time. It was a puzzle and all the pieces were in front of her, but the idea of assembling it gratifyingly disturbed her. Anger, betrayal, sadness...

The unbridled dark side in Vader...

Something seemed to crack in Leia's mind with that last thought, but she didn't have time to think or develop the thought because Vader had disappeared from her side, some noises coming from the most hidden part of the open chamber. She heard the creaking of a door and, a few seconds later, Vader appeared with strange things on his hands; mops, buckets, a hose and mopping bushings, some floor cloths too.

"Because of the deplorable state of the planet, your real mother's resting place didn't receive the attention she so deserves." His voice was heavy and she felt a little powerless 'cause she couldn't discern his most basic feelings, even though the look he held in his blue eyes painted a good deal of sadness, betrayal, and... There was something else; something warm, but she couldn't really tell. Love for Padmé? Well, her mother? Probably this... Seeing him bringing the cleaning utensils to where she was standing, Leia noticed now that she had her hand on the glass coffin. "It is our obligation, as husband and daughter, to make this place worthy of her presence."

And so he let the utensils fall in front of her. Looking at the cleaning utensils and then Vader, she closed her eyes as she understood what he was implying... And, honestly, looking at the beautiful woman inside the coffin, she whispered with a heavy voice.

"You're right."

And, without another word, they both began to cleanse that sacred place. The floor couldn't be repaired, but it could be wiped from the waste, leftovers, and leaves, shining even more after being waxed. Vader cleaned each graffiti around and made a point of leaving the coffin polished as it was new. Hours and hours of hard work turning what once looked like an abandoned graveyard into a mausoleum full of beauty passed before they realized, the setting sun showing on the horizon and making the water so blue and reflexive it was almost golden, birds tweeting in their nests before going to sleep, and from afar she thought she heard some kind of owl. Without the black cape and with her hair down to just a ponytail, Leia leaned carefully on the glass and stared at her biological mother inside... She noticed once again her beautiful long hair, smiling to herself while unconsciously caressing her own. Would she someday be as pretty as her? She could only dream.

But if she left her hair to grow, would she have such long locks like these? By the Force, it was still so unbelievable…

Padmé Amidala was truly her mother. The plug would hardly fall so soon, as surreal as the fact that Vader, the greatest hater of politics and a man who always seemed to opt for the use of guns contrary to words, would be the one who had a daughter with the Heroine of Democracy. The irony was quite funny. She looked at Vader, who was putting the things that were used during the cleaning in the caretaker's wardrobe, hidden in the back of the mausoleum.

Meanwhile, Leia felt her heart tremble as she felt something in the Force, something powerful... Almost like when they arrived in Naboo. As if something was going to happen. She stopped, faced her surroundings... But she saw nothing. However, she wasn't the same girl from almost a month ago who needed her human senses to be aware of her surroundings. Stretching her connection with the Force as best she could, it was only a few moments before she caught something, like a white aura, coming in that direction. She was trying to hide but, with proximity, it was impossible.

By pure instinct, Leia grabbed both lightsabers and took her eyes strictly on the stairs leading to her mother's resting place, and since she had no notion of the enemy and its tactics, she decided to enter the opening of Soresu.

"Daughter of mine, I—What are you doing?" Vader's words died when he saw his daughter in that pose, lightsabers on hand. He pushed away the irritation of his neglected order for he could feel, even without the Force, how tense his daughter was, walking to her side with an efficient calm, cultivated through many years of leading men to battle. Leia looked at her side just for a moment as if she was searching for acknowledgment from Vader at her instance before the battle, quickly changing her eyes to the steps, the Force swinging inside of her in the 'kriffing danger' mode. A danger beyond any she'd ever felt and only growing more and more.

"There's a Force User coming, Vader..." she said, finding it a bit difficult to face his blue eyes, the tension in her body reaching extreme levels.

Vader appeared incredulous for a few moments, turning his eyes to her mother's coffin and then to her.

"They found me, then... Come on, there's no time to lose, daughter of mine." And with one last look at the coffin, but this time devoid of the negative feelings, the blond set out in a fast, heavy step, the black cape floating in waves behind him. The sun had finally descended completely on the horizon and darkness took over, Leia almost trembling with anxiety as she caught up with the blond on his walk. She could feel the cold terror and pure anger radiating from him, even if not through the Force, but she fixed her thought on the face he did when he said that initial phase... He was surprised. Tense.

"Who found you?" was a silly question, but there were so many enemies that Vader talked about that, in particular, she couldn't just assume it was one or the other. However, no words were needed when Vader stopped his feet, his chest rising immediately as if the air caught inside his throat. His hands clenched and his eyes widened, mouth firmly pressed so as not to show his teeth. Leia watched him just for a moment, for the next, she was already following his gaze, the Force within her screaming and trembling with deadly danger straight ahead... But it was just an old man. An old man dressed in brown clothes, hands together, and who seemed patiently to wait at the foot of the stairs. The only illumination, weak to be said, came from the poles which lamps had not been broken.

The old man locked eyes with the Dark Lord, calm and serene, breathing as if he were not even affected by the intense look he received from Vader. He held Vader's bluish eyes for a few more silent moments and then turned to Leia, her throat closing as if she had swallowed a huge block of concrete, hands shaking, and a desire to turn on the lightsabers and defend herself. The dark side inside her growled and shook, a warmth that heralded a blood-curdling will and an endless fear... But all he did was a soothing sign with his hand.

"I am not here against you, little Leia." A wave close to a soothing feeling hit her mind, but all she felt was as if something tried to burn her mind, hurt her being. Biting her teeth and losing her composition, she took one of her hands to her head and held on tight, instinctively calling the dark side and protecting herself from this feeling that threatened to harm her. She felt a worried hand on her shoulder and didn't have to turn around to see that it was Vader, but she turned anyway and the sight of his blue eyes full of worry was one that gradually calmed her down.

She nodded and Vader gave a quick little nod, turning once again to Kenobi—who showed only a remnant of confusion in the Force—and finally managed to utter, his anger trying hard to crawl out of his skin;

"Don't you dare raise a weapon here or use the Force again, Kenobi..."

"You are in no position of negotiation, Darth. You know that's what Padmé would have wanted."

"No!" with his hand trembling in boiling hatred, Vader grabbed his lightsaber, refraining from turning it on with great difficulty. "Do not distort the wisdom of my wife; she'd never, ever let our only daughter be trained by a Jedi or a Sith.

"And here we are..."

"I am not that same drunk boy who just got his first sip of the dark side, Kenobi, much less the pathetic Jedi blinded by the light. I've enslaved the dark side and now I see clearly the reality. I am no slave anymore... and I won't let that happen to my daughter." Leia looked from her father to the Jedi, angry that they were talking as if she wasn't even there but, above that, totally paralyzed. She only knew that Obi-wan Kenobi was a Jedi on Tatooine, she never saw his appearance. This is the first time she has seen a Jedi in the flesh...

And the power of this Kenobi... seriously astonished her. Unwittingly, she searched for protection in Vader against that titan in the Force, tense but a little more secure when she felt his signature linking to hers, his fury and betrayal feelings rising and rising as a dormant volcano that was flooding their connection. Kenobi seemed to notice that.

"Words are useless against the machinations of the dark side. Don't worry, little Leia, the light side will purify your mind and make you see true reality."

"You won't lay a finger on her, Kenobi..." it was said almost like a hiss.

"I'll finish what I should have ended all those years ago, Darth; give peace to the soul of my former student, slain by your poison." And, with a look of absolution, Kenobi pulled both hands from inside his dressing gown and placed himself in a battle posture, a blue blade roaring to life on his hands. Leia felt her whole body tingle with the vision, and soon after she turned to her father in pure fear, the dark side saying strange things to her. Things involving just turning on her sabers and run face to face with the old man... It was just an old man, she wouldn't lose. But Vader noticed her mixed feelings and sent a strong negation through the Force, practically silencing the dark side and soothing her mind just a tad.

Vader took a deep breath with his eyes closed and she felt him connecting fully with the Force, the intense cold far from being produced by the sunless sky of Naboo. The darkness inside Vader was frighteningly similar to what she saw during her 'vision' of him in the past and, in fact, it intimidated her a bit... But, against her will, a few images turned her head. How Vader calmed her from afar in her first use of the Force offensively, calming her before she killed the inquisitor in Utapau, all the training he was there in helping her not to be dominated by the dark side. There was nothing to be feared of... Not from him.

The dark side was very strong and abrasive inside him now... He was the one who needed help at this moment.

With her trembling and somewhat hesitant hand, Leia rested her palm against Vader's shoulder which was almost as high as her forehead. The effect was immediate. The Force inside him kept spinning and the cold pervaded all things, but that bad, evil feeling in the Force that she felt coming from him began to dust away, eyes golden and injected with blood staring at her brown ones deeply. Vader spent another moment analyzing her, and the next, he turned his eyes to Kenobi.

"You will try." He whispered, his eyes stuck on Kenobi as he slowly descended the steps and stopped at an extremely tense distance from the old man, the blue blade illuminating both their faces and the analytical eyes of the old man running through Vader's black figure, trying to hide everything from the man he once called brother. "But not here." was a definite tone. Kenobi looked into the golden eyes not with caution, the Force around him spinning with a clear resolution... It was more confusion and other things, but these were buried deep inside the old master.

"Why do you care, Darth?" was a question Leia thought she too would have done hours earlier, but after all she witnessed at the face of her mother's coffin... Yet, she didn't know the extent of the story that Vader and Obi-wan had.

"Don't make me repeat myself, Kenobi. I'm not the crazy, enslaved boy you left to burn." It seemed to take a slight shiver from the Jedi, almost imperceptible and even made his eyes waver in a sad glow, but it quickly fell apart. Leia got stuck at the last part, thinking about Vader's choice of words; "to burn?"... Chills went up in her body as she remembered her burning body inside her room in Mustafar. She didn't know if there was really a connection, but the Force seemed to lean toward a yes, even though it was quite vague.

A few more rigid seconds went by and Leia was becoming an impatient pile of nerves. Nonetheless, before she could scream from a mixture of emotions between anger and anticipation, Kenobi slowly lowered his blue lightsaber—he didn't turn it off... Worthy of note, Vader hadn't turned his on yet, but his power in the Force exhaled a greater sense of danger than any she'd ever gotten from him.

"So be it." He said no more words.

In silence, Vader began to walk towards the bridge with the brown-haired girl doing everything not to stare at the Jedi master... Still, her curiosity took the best of her and she looked back a few times, watching as the man serenely followed them, patient and decisive steps. When their eyes met, he smiled warmly and waved his hand, the same warm wave as before beating against her... It did not hurt as before, but she still feared him. It was a light that came straight to her mind and brightened everything, stirring her thoughts and clouding her judgment. It was no good, it made her feel lost and blind. With a tremor all over her body, she turned her gaze forward.

"You took your mother's appearance in every way, little Leia." The voice of the Jedi master came in a tone completely different than before, his steps lighter against the ground than Vader's heavy ones.

Leia, of course, did not answer, shrugging and gulping. How he could expect her to be so casual? At her side was Vader practically freezing the stone under his feet and at her back, the Master Jedi threatened to blind everything. It was quite unnerving.

"Thank him, daughter of mine. It was a compliment."

Right... But what in the kriffing nine Corellians hells Vader meant by that phrase?! He is so far at the brink of casting a Force Storm upon the man in the slightest spark of danger and yet he punishes her for not having... good manners? This is practically the bottom of the pit for her in shame matters. She wanted to curse Vader in every way for this humiliation, but she found the whole atmosphere heavier than a Bantha in the Force. Biting her tongue and clearly uncomfortable, she spoke a little louder than a whisper.

"Thank you."

"Um... Some things never change." Kenobi commented as he stroked his beard, an idea of a smile on his face—just as an absolute melancholy shone in the Force for a moment, only to be hidden.

"Elaborate, Kenobi."

"You always gave Ahsoka a run for her credits, didn't you?"

"Yes... I did. She became admirable." The expression on his face didn't change, the hostility was still electrifying in the air... But that little exchange of comments in the silence of the night—Kenobi's saber having already been turned off—really shook Leia. When she imagined meeting a Jedi with Vader, she thought it would all unfold with far fewer words and, well, far more blood and lightsaber frantic fights. She didn't know what to think of what was going on here.

 _"It's a trap. There's another Jedi around."_ Okay... What? What the kriffing he was talking about?

_"I don't feel another Jedi."_

_"Neither do I, but that's what Kenobi would do. He's serving as bait, the other Jedi will try to catch you and run away while I fight."_ His quiet voice was a contrast to his deep anger that made her skin shiver. How did he manage to think of these things? She barely knew of one living Jedi and, out of nowhere, there are two? Vader seemed very sure of what he said, though. Almost as if he knew the thought process of the old Jedi master. _"Depending on who it is, you won't be able to fight against. Don't get too far away from me."_ the dark side shook a little with those last words. He had said she was extremely powerful, almost as powerful as a veteran padawan who has been training at the Temple all his life... And now he says that? Yes, she fears Kenobi, but the man is a legendary Jedi Master. And Vader has killed the great majority of masters and knights... She has skill in the Force and she is a prodigy with lightsabers. She can at least try, for Force sake!

Leia clenched a bit more the lightsabers in her hands, now expectant and with growing excitement to face whatever is thrown at her.

On the other hand...

Kenobi was trying very, very hard not to sigh out loud right there. Under the Jedi dressing gown his body trembled lightly, the knots of his fist almost white against the lightsaber and his heart racing a thousand. It was taking all his pro-efficiency with the Force to hide such feelings that made his heart sick; pain, especially. The pain of having to look into the blue eyes of what was once his brother. The pain of feeling how hurt he was behind those eyes... And the pain of seeing him truly worried about his daughter for that was a threat of unrivaled magnitude. When he came up with this plan to rescue Leia, he went with the mentality that Vader was holding her captive and training her by force, breaking her mind... But seeing Leia there, refusing the peaceful waves of the Force he was sending, hiding behind Vader as if he was going to protect her and the inherent lack of golden eyes on her face, but still with the dark side running inside of her… The possibilities scare him. For anyone who knew how a Sith Lord behaves, that would be the strangest thing in the world.

But Obi-wan knows better. He knows Anakin; he has always loved things too much, especially his family and friends. The possibility that he loves Leia like his daughter was one that he did not want to face.

Dark and dishonorable words whispered in his mind as he stared at the backs of the two walking side by side, especially playing with his far-reaching sense of guilt. What if he had done something differently? What if he had talked more with Anakin? He noticed the signs, he saw something growing in the heart of his ex-padawan.

And yet he chose to do nothing; **"I'll talk to him about it after the war,"** he said to himself.

What a terrible, old fool.

His blue-gray eyes fell off of Vader and Leia, and in the back of his mind, an image was created. He doesn't know if it was the Force making him hurt until he gave his last breath or just his mind hurt by so many events trying to find some comfort in the fantasy of a galaxy where he did things another way... Both thoughts left him feeling worse and worse, so he threw out the futile dream that materialized in his mind with a quick head sway.

It was an unreachable dream. A fantasy he wouldn't allow himself to dive into, soon returning to the harsh reality of his situations.

Darth stopped his pace and had been standing at least ten meters from him in the middle of the bridge between Theed and the open Mausoleum. Obi-wan stared at him with just a hint of remorse that soon vanished into his vast concentration of the Force. No words were needed as the Lord Sith raised his lightsaber and made the red blade bay to life, an unnatural and bloody sound coming with the crimson glow. In response, the blue blade made to fight evil raised once again, as every Jedi must do. Leia didn't stray too far from Vader and seemed, apart from all the nerves and constant fear, ready to fight... A cold ran for Kenobi; maybe she knew what was happening?

He could feel how powerful the Force was within her, Vader grasped this massive talent and was molding it for evil. Did she feel Cal?... No, not even Kenobi could feel him now. Taking a deep breath, he centered his mind once again.

Cal Kestis was coming and would soon rescue Leia... He just had to hold Darth Vader, the Jedi Order's executioner. Yet, no matter how many times he tried to call him 'Vader' or 'Darth', all he could see on the other side was Anakin. And that hurt. It hurt a lot.

But he would fight with everything until the moment he fell, all for that girl's life and well-being.

That's the Jedi Way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A cliffhanger! Oh snap.  
> Not much happened in this chapter; Naboo is suffering again with the Blue Virus and a radical change in the political scenery;  
> Leia didn't like it, after all, she still is royalty... Double Royalty.  
> Obi is here and is confronting Vader, but is confused by Leia's reaction towards him and afraid of a possible bond of hers and Vader!  
> The next chapter will be an eye-opener for the characters.  
> Thank u for your time, till the next time.


	12. Leia is a politician and Vader is truly pissed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, hell is hell, but things look like they will return to usual soon. Hope before the holidays.  
> and speaking of hope, hope you guys appreciate the chapter!  
> 

"You know you can't destroy me, Obi-wan. You know." With a heavy tone of entente, Vader stood where he was, high as a monolith and exhaling an immeasurable coldness on the dark side. He frowned upon seeing the unresponsive face of Master Jedi, his stable breath and focused eyes... Still, he couldn't hide that spark of confirmation to Vader's words fast enough. Stranger to Leia was the fact that Vader said this as an undeniable fact, even if it sounded very arrogant. "Yes, you know... You'd never land the final blow even if I asked you to."

The red blade swung while Vader changed the weight on his feet, probably still not used to this much physical effort since he recovered his limbs—he trained her earlier in the ship, walked through Theed, and hasn't stopped moving constantly for hours, contrary to the times he had at least some time to stop and recover.

"Your words will not reach me, Darth. My mind is in tune with the Force."

"That's it" he pointed the blade in Kenobi's direction, cutting his words with a spike in his voice that decreased in the next phrase. "That's what blinds you Kenobi. That species of thinking is the poison that has eaten away at the Jedi Order since before Rajivari left the other masters."

"You're drunk on the dark side, your words carry nothing but evil and lies." The old man raised his chin a little, his posture upright and ready for battle never wavering a moment.

Vader analyzed the Jedi with odd for a moment, but he didn't seem to be immersed in his thoughts—he appeared more like searching for self-controlling.

"Repeat these words all you want, I know you hear me, Kenobi. Because deep down you would never ignore the words of your ex-padawan." the slightest tension appeared in the Jedi master's skin illuminated by the bluish light, Vader noticing this. "I had plenty of time to think. I lost that day, but I never felt like I was wrong. It was my fault for everything I did, every choice, but I wasn't wrong. You're a different story. How many times, before the end of the Clone Wars, have you blamed yourself? How many times have you rethought the Jedi Code before the 'dark times'? How many times did it come to your mind that maybe you and everyone around you, everyone that you trust... were doing something wrong?

"You betrayed us, Darth! Don't distort the story, not in front of her. You killed all the Jedi and brought that man to power." The slightest, almost imperceptible squeeze on the lightsaber indicated anger... No, it wasn't like that in the Force. Frustration? Fear of the truth? Fear of his own words?

"I am not distorting the story. She knows my mistakes and... and she herself had that blighted blindness, but I made her a more reasonable person." He seemed to be going to say something else, changing his words at the last second and, perhaps-probably-almost-100-percent, omitting the truth. Leia noticed that, frowning in confusion. "She is a prodigy and smart as her mother, even more, if I may say. She is tenacious about applying what I teach her to the real world and can bend the Force as a truly powerful Force User with just a fraction of the time, her potential is skyrocketing day by day and showing what a great Sith she will do someday. Did I talked about also how she knows a lot about theology and the art of war, knowing the flaws and tactics of the Jedi and Sith in the Mandalorian Wars; the Korriban Bombing; Hyperspace Wars, and..." Leia, truly, had begun to blush with embarrassment as Vader continued to brag about her like she was some kind of wonder kid, yet she couldn't say a thing because it was kriffing Darth Vader at the end of the day. Unless she would trick him into submission with her tricks, but she would be dead before she does something alike in front of a person, much more a Jedi Master. Obi-wan, however, clenched his eyebrows upon hearing these words coming from the blonde. Vader quickly caught this gesture and opened more his eyes, clearly confused but growing offended about five seconds later. "You actually do not know any of this I've just said?"

Obi-wan, slowly, waved his head with negation.

"Daughter of mine..." he turned to face her. "What is the Jedi Code?"

Kenobi instantly turned to her, his open mouth showing his increasing shock—yet, his posture didn't carry any gaps no matter how much she looked for—a little tense for having been taken from her attention in the conversation of the two alongside the unbridled embarrassment, she took a little time to talk, uncomfortable with the intense silence beyond the buzzing of the blades, but eventually began to say;

"There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge..." she felt her heart racing a little when she saw Kenobi's intense gaze on her. "There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is only the Force."

"Good. Now." he turned himself to the older Jedi. "You know the Sith Code, Kenobi? Do you know their teachings, their philosophy? Anything beyond 'evil'?"

Leia was surprised by the lack of response from the Jedi master, his gaze clearly shaken by what he had just witnessed. Vader squeezed his lightsaber tightly and, with a tone far more irritated than before, uttered;

"Of course you don't know. The Jedi are blind even in their study, they would never teach about the Sith, no matter how sworn enemies they are of the Jedi. You, Kenobi, see only what the Council and the Force want you to see—a pawn on a board, a slave in chains." the last two words were spoken with a fiery poison, any countenance of calm Vader tried to grasp slipping away from his hands. "You **know** nothing beyond because you **seek** nothing beyond, and when there is the desire to explore something more, to be a person beyond a Jedi, to be a friend beyond a master, to be a lover beyond a simple acquaintance… You simply negate it and pushes the feeling aside, because you’re not supposed to feel, you're not supposed to live a life outside the Force and the Jedi." This phrase almost whispered made Leia face the blonde with vehemence. She is aware that the greatest weapon of the Sith is not their lightsaber or status, but their vast knowledge and power with words... And all that Vader spoke made the Force in Kenobi tremble more and more painful and open to the world. "You thought of that wherever you were in those 20 years, didn't you? You thought that maybe if you had accepted that we had a bond—“

"That's enough!" The blue-bladed weapon swung with a twinge of violence, the master taking a deep breath afterward, trying to keep things under control. But Vader didn't stop.

"If you had accepted the love for the Mandalorian—"

Leia took one step away as she felt the danger in the air.

"If you had seen beyond the Code... everything. Everything would be different, Kenobi." Vader didn't show it physically, but Leia sensed it all in their bond. She felt the coldness in his movements as he played with the guilt of the Jedi master gradually disappearing, exchanged for an acidic warmth, satisfaction when the eldest made the first move. Crossing the ten meters with a speed not high but constant, Kenobi had a closed face and eyes full of pain to the point of even making Leia's heart drenched in sorrow.

Then both lightsabers clashed, but Vader did not engage in the style of complete Sith domination. Defending the blue lightsaber Soresu's defensive 1-2-3 against Kenobi's vertical 1-2 Djam So, Vader lifted the blade and ultimately parried the sweep that came right after the second hit, and as Kenobi waited for Soresu's fourth movement—a vertical, speedy cut—to catch it and spin around it, he was pushed away with a Force Push strongly enough to hurl him back. Vader wanted to prolong it, for no reason...

... Besides revenge. Leia moved her eyes to face the blonde man's back with fervor, her mind clicking as she understood the depth of Vader's feelings, almost certain that not even he was noticing how strong the dark side was imposing itself on his signature... dominating him secretly, almost as it was accustomed to this exact method.

"I felt no guilt for that time; I was blind and paid the consequences of it, but I was not stagnant at it. I went beyond suffering and betrayal, I did not hang myself in my own pain and today I pass on these teachings to my daughter... And you, Kenobi? What have you done in 20 years? Did you become someone better, did you realize the mistakes of the past and tried to correct them? No..." Vader stood there, waiting for the next advance. "You grieved, you tried to make it lighter in the Force, but the Force would never let you do it because your pain is needed to make you come to me and, again, to try to take my daughter away from me and destroy my life once more. You didn't get over anything with the Force, all you got was a life of pain and frailness! You are necessary for this sick game to progress one step further!"

Kenobi tried to focus on the Force, he tried to find the power to rise above the machinations and words of the Sith. But all he managed to do was review all the painful memories in his mind again, his shields falling by the intensity of his emotions.

"A broken Jedi; a remnant of an order built of lies. Without that which he loves, without one to pass what had learned. Without anything. A failure—

"Kriffing, enough!"

It was at that moment that, with a long sigh, Kenobi stopped. It was impossible to hide this immense pain, infernal and so abrasive that has eaten his body for so long. But even he didn't notice how he was transmitting these feelings and thus affecting others... Leia, in case.

Vader turned to Leia who, breathing with difficulty and clenching her fist as her body quivered, faced her father inside his eyes. Before Vader could say anything, she came in front, finger against man's face in such a way that made Obi-wan caring nature fear for her safety... No one does something like this to a sith and gets away unscratched.

Well, apparently Leia does, because Vader just stood there, mostly frustrated for being interrupted, but quiet as his daughter spoke;

"That's enough, isn't it? Your personal feelings are interfering with your judgment, your anger is controlling you!" she shouted at him, the blonde man's face getting colder and colder, empathetic almost with the words of the politician who seemed to sway more to the angry side now instead of the tense that she was when she started talking. "I won't stand here while I see everything you taught me being torn apart because you think this is a good thing, this petty revenge. I felt the change in you. It hurts in you too, Vader."

"The ghost you feel is of one who's long dead."

"That's a lie. Those blue eyes were not of a dead man. Don't be a hypocrite, Vader... You hate yourself, don't you? You're never well with yourself, you hate your reflection, you hate everything that involves doing something good for you! And you keep so many feelings that at the first chance you have of release them, you don't realize how big they hang over you!"

"The time is not appropriated, daughter of mine. Save your thoughts for later—" Leia cut Vader immediately. In the meantime, Obi-wan was too paralyzed to make any noise, facing the exchange without a drop of joy.

"There is no bad time for a lesson."

"This is not—"

"Yes, it is, kriff! You told me that we are... different Sith. That we're not taken by the dark side, that we enslave it before it enslaves us. You're letting the dark side take over and do the talking for you—this is not the way of the Sith." Leia didn't well understand truly why she was doing it; she could have simply ignored the feelings she felt deeply in Vader, the touch of the dark side stronger than ever in their bond. She could have done that very well.

... But Vader never ignored that when she was on the other side of the spectrum. He was always there to pull her away from those creepy clutches. Staring at the Jedi Master just a few two, three feet away, Leia soon found herself resting her hand on Vader's shoulder.

"You..." she found it difficult to speak these words. "Don't you think it's a good idea to let him live?"

"Elaborate, daughter of mine." Every word was said slowly, eyes fixed on her. Biting her lip with fear for his response, soon lost after she repeated that there was no danger to her—she took her time to find the right words, the disturbing silence not helping a bit.

"I may not be on your side in your conquest for the Empire, just as we are political enemies... But I have been learning the way of the Sith with you. You and I, Vader, are enemies—but that hasn't changed the fact that you have helped me to see a different world thought the Force, one different than all others Force users we've ever met... We are a new kind, aren't we? This could be the first step to show the galaxy that." she then pointed to Kenobi. "You said a lot of things, I don't doubt he'd gonna have a hell of a time thinking about these. He questions his way of life, his choices—you brought all of it to his attention."

Vader changed his eyes and stared at Kenobi, both men quiet as she talks and, she swears, there was a moment where Vader snorted silently and Obi-wan stroked his beard, attentive and almost judging a misaction of the sith, Vader soon returning his attention to her. Leia promptly ignored the perception of these facts.

"The Rebellion will know that you have changed, the galaxy then. Eventually, they will know that you are Vader and that you let a Jedi survive. Tha-this is the first step to the new Order of the Sith flourishing. It's no longer an Order made up of bloodthirsty madmen who betray their masters and kill and enslave only because they think it's fun... And maybe, maybe... We'll also have a new Jedi Order. One that doesn't create child soldiers and send them to war against soulless machines, one that tolerates the Sith. A Jedi Order that uses the Force, and does not let itself be used by it... Balance." she ended with a flick of the eye, practically demanding Vader to understand her.

Vader raised his eyes and stared at her analytically for a long time, his lightsaber still growling softly compared to the whistle of the blue saber.

"Please, Vader... Hear me." She pleaded, eyes bulging and hand squeezing tight Vader's shoulder. It took enough time to bake a cake and smash it into her face for Vader to speak once again.

"You are awfully quiet, Kenobi." he turned to the old master.

"The girl speaks like her mother." Kenobi hardly recovered for the feelings weighing on him, but hearing all those words about Vader clearly had some effect on the man.

"She inherited Padmé's best." Leia was a little embarrassed by all the compliments, but this, different than the others, felt real... it felt good. The plug has not yet fallen, by the way.

The silence reigned for a few more good seconds, the air electrified with an inert hostility, just waiting for someone to make the wrong move to attack. Both Sith and Jedi faced each other every second, the mixed emotions in the Force leaving Leia a pile of nerves. She wanted her words to mean something... But the chance of it all breaking in death is not one she disregarded here. Still, she has faith in her philosophy. The Jedi were wrong and so the Sith, Vader knows this and Kenobi now has insight into this point too... A Jedi and a Sith know where they went wrong. This is a golden opportunity to rebuild both Orders in a very different state from the previous one which simply ended in pain and death.

But all this depended only on the resolution of Vader and Obi-wan, their will to make something better out of a disaster... And the fact that their weapons had not been sheathed still made her heart beat hard against the ribcage.

Eventually, Vader spoke;

"What do you intend to do now, Kenobi?"

Leia held her breath and looked to the old man who, for longer than it was healthy for her sanity, seemed to think. He stared at her, an indescribable expression as he stroked his beard. With a tired sigh and turning off his lightsaber, but still ready to turn it on if necessary, he said, tired and lost;

"Contemplate and... Meditate. A lot."

"My daughter's words are not definitive, much less a testimony to the truth. What I am doing here, Kenobi, is a warning... She is with me because she wants to. Any attempt to take her from me will be met with judgment by death." With this phrase, the air finally came out of Leia's lungs which, for just the skin of the teeth, did not blow up. The tension was killing her... "And you, young lady." he turned to her, the frowning look and a finger pointed towards her face.

"What? I just did what I do best! Politics." she shrugged her shoulders, a victorious but tired smile, saying a lot about her intentions with the bed when they returned to the ship. Vader turned off his lightsaber and, with a quiet moment, soon found himself speaking.

"Yes, you did what you thought was right and didn't let yourself be chained by a side or another... And your mother would be proud of you."

 **(a/n: For no fucking reason, an entire paragraph disappeared from here--and I'm sure it didn't happen when I first upload the chapter because I checked it 2 times and I just noticed now that I was reading again to begin writing the 13th chapter, and I can't replace the lost paragraph 'cause I didn't save the .doc archive... So, I gonna try to illustrate what happens based on my memory of the paragraph;** Leia is all happy because she managed to convince two bloodthirsty hounds to hear her, but seconds later the Mantis explode out of the river and destroys a part of the bridge. Cal uses a Force Freeze on her and 'kidnaps' Leia while sending a mean look towards Vader, fleeing before Vader recovers from the blast. Kenobi is like "oopsie-daisy". **Again, sorry for the inconvenience)**

"No!" not wanting to give up his daughter so soon, Vader tried to use the Force to grab the ship and hold it, but the small size and immense speed made it impossible for him... With his eyes wide open and the Force exploding inside him in pure and fervent hatred, Vader was one step away from starting to hyperventilate. With his eyes almost turning purple from the mastodon extent of his dark powers at that moment, Vader moved towards Obi-wan with a shower of reddish thunder coming from his flesh hand, a scream soon following; "You!"

Obi-wan, having felt the dark immensity that came over Vader was quick to turn on his lightsaber and defend himself against the gust of thunder—the utmost power of the thunderstorms almost took him off the ground, his arms quickly became numb and his feet seemed to sink into the concrete still unstable by the gargantuan hole in the ornamented bridge.

"You never intended to trust her nor me! You betrayed me again, you stole everything from me again!" The red thunders began to become more and more saturated with power, feeding on the dark side generated by Vader's emotional discharge. "But I swear, if you mess with her head, there will be nothing left in the galaxy to regret it!" His angered cry energized the rays even more and sapped Kenobi's energy. It was simply too much.

"No, Ana—"

"Don't call me that!" Face to face with Kenobi, the blonde man stopped the storm and opened combat with a very strong attack on the lightsaber blade, making the old man groan in pain and have his arms thrown downwards just to another blow full of resentment send his saber flying over his head. Obi-wan tried to defend himself with a Force push, but all he got was for Vader's lightsaber to fly out of his hand, his anger totally overpowering over him. Vader didn't mind because, with a kick to the chest of the man he sent him rolling across the floor, all left was to use the Force to pull Kenobi's saber to his fingers, the blade humming with blue light and just a blow away from taking the life of the Jedi.

With one last heavy breath, Kenobi waited with resolution. He had prepared himself for it... It was time to return to the Force.

However, nothing came. He felt a spike of hesitation in the Force, the girl's words echoing in his mind momentarily, an intense feeling trying to fight the darkness before him... And then fast, strong steps were moving away from him. The man only noticed that what he had seen and heard was a memory shared by his bond with Anakin when his eyes opened and he saw the Sith Lord running as fast as he could in the darkness of Naboo night.

With his hand squeezing his forehead, Kenobi stayed where he was for a few good moments. His head burned with so much information, so much stuff. Today was a bad day to be so old…

* * *

By the time that strange slowness came out of her body, she was already—bewildered—on her feet with both lightsabers on, brown eyes running around, even if the change of gravity and the assumption of an explosion earlier made it harder for her eyes to get used to the new closed environment. Then, guiding herself by the Force, she came face to face with a signature so powerful that it made her whole body tremble from top to bottom. This being was soon speaking;

"Oi, wait a minute, little girl! These things are not toys!" a male voice said, her mind more centered than ever in being in the same room with someone so powerful that wasn't... Vader.

"Vader." She called. "Where is he?!" she tried to look for him, but couldn't find the dark lord around. In the meantime, breathing breathlessly, her vision began to normalize and her mind to focus on the here and now. A ship and, through the blue lists outside the windows, in hyperspace. And a Jedi... She moved a few steps away when he raised their hands with a long lightsaber turned off, more confused than calm when he threw the lightsaber at the ground. Wise enough, Leia took it with the Force and fastened it to her belt. "You... You're a Jedi." No matter how much the dark side told her to hit him and kill him right there, her training made her act much more firmly and decisively... And this 'peace gesture' of his won't fool her. No Force user is totally helpless without a lightsaber.

"Yes, I am a Jedi, and 'he' is not here anymore. You are safe." His voice was an attempt to appease her, but all he achieved was getting her tenser. Vader was right, it had been a plan to rescue her and there was more than one Jedi.

... However, how would she explain that, in fact, she is with Vader because she wants to?

"Look, why don't you turn off those lightsabers and calm down a bit? Do you like Nirveyyyik leaf tea?"

Leia swallowed dry when facing the Jedi once again. Raising her shields as high as she could, she turned off both her lightsabers, the left hand first and, after a second, the right one, assuming a more upright posture.

"I'd like a glass, please."

"Good. You can sit there for a few minutes, I'll be right back." Without asking for the lightsaber back, which she thought the grown man would do, he was soon running to the kitchen less than five meters from the ship's small living room. Overlooking her surroundings with caution, Leia shortly took a seat on one of the padded couches. She tried to calm down and relax, but her heart was beating a thousand times by second, and trying to use her political intellect to understand the situation only made her more stressed. Frustration made the dark side grow inside her and whisper often and louder. Trusting the Force to warn her if any danger rose, she soon entered into a light meditation to center her mind and calm her nerves.

Today was quite a day... It's a good thing she doesn't have her diary here to catalog it because there are no words she can think of to describe it. Maybe, just maybe, overwhelming?

Padmé Amidala is her mother. That beautiful woman she saw on documentaries and sketchy history books, owner of legendary stories that various politicians she met during her life told, was her mother... She really didn't know how to feel about it. There was somewhere in her mind that she was very, very happy about it.

But there was another place...

Closing her fists for a moment, she repressed the high peak on the dark side by thinking of Breha and Bail. It wasn't enough that they lied about the Force—something that quickly became second nature to her—they also lied about her heredity on so many levels... She tried to use the same excuse that she had used for Vader, that they did it to protect her, but more and more it became vague, obtuse. It became weightless. Lies so deep, roots that reached places and people she couldn't even imagine. Besides, did they ever tried to tell her? She is already 20 years old, almost 21, and they never even quoted Padmé in any intimate sense to her.

It was becoming more and more difficult to think about her adoptive parents without thinking about these lies and calumnies.

And Vader... She should have gotten used to him being a big, extremely boring, or extremely insane annoying puzzle. But, ever so, he was the only one that treated her with just the truth... And when the truth hurts, he won't leave her alone for Force's sake. With a long sigh and scratching her head, Leia opened her eyes when the Force poked her. It was no danger, but soon the red-haired Jedi was coming back with a boiling teapot, a bipedal droid stuck on his right shoulder.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, the water takes longer to warm up in hyperspace—"

"Yes, I know." Raising one of her hands, Leia levitated one of the cups and the teapot with minimal effort. Both hovered in front of her, the teapot quickly returning to the Jedi after filling the girl's cup. Cross-legged and bringing her political mask to the surface, Leia took a quick sip... the heat soothed her mind enough to think without the numbness of tiredness.

"Wow, I didn't know you'd had training before." he pointed, curious, as he sat down next to her and put the tray on the center table. The droid was quick to come down from his shoulder and start filling a cup for his master. "Thank you, BD."

"Before what?"

"Before, well, he kidnapped you." his hand gestures were an acute attempt to say that this was most obvious. Leia wondered if she should tell the truth right off the bat.. and she probably should. This man and Obi-wan have contact with the Rebellion and, consequently, her family. It wouldn't take long to unmask her.

... It has been a long time since she has had contact with the Rebellion. Her heart weighed down with this thought, the will to reintegrate into the lines and fight once more for a free galaxy rekindled within her, but she was aware that she couldn't return right now... Vader said that the Emperor is a Sith Lord to be feared by everyone, not even she believes that she can go against him—and a Death Star, the icing on the cake.

"No. It was Vader who trained me." The Jedi Master maintained silence for a moment, his eyes locked with her with great surprise. She was about to ask, but he spoke first;

"That's terrible... At least we're lucky he didn't have time to mess with your head and make you fall—it would be a dead-end from there.

"Why is that?"

"When someone falls, well, turns to the dark side of the Force... They never come back." His voice didn't show, but the little spark that waved in the Force said there was more weight behind those words than he wanted to show. To fall. What does it mean to fall into the sight of a Jedi? Vader quoted that expression a few times, but it always followed with something about how the closed conception of the Jedi made it impossible for them to see reality. Curious about this, Leia decided she would ask when it was most opportune.

"That's right." She left the cup floating, hands ready to turn on the lightsaber and defend herself at any moment. "We haven't introduced ourselves yet."

"Ah, yes, right... eh, Cal Kestis, Jedi master. That's me." he pointed to himself. "This little guy here is BD—be cool to her, BD. It's been a while since our last young apprentice." it was a small, loose phrase... but there was something behind it. Leia, however, didn't pay much attention.

"Bee-bop!" the droid blinked the visor at her, Leia half-smiling with that. She misses Artoo and Threepio very much. Wherever they are, she hopes they survived.

"Leia..." she surprised herself by not automatically completing her own name. Tapping her thigh to resume her posture, she reiterated. "Leia Organa. Much pleasure, Master Jedi."

"Nice to meet you." He shook his head a few times, the silence reigning for a moment after. "Ah, we have a long, long journey ahead of us, you can go and have a rest in the lower rooms; first door on the left, the bathroom is face to the bedroom door. I'll tell you all the details of what's going on when you're, you know... rested. Hard times traveling around with a Sith Lord, I presume." He scratched the back of his head as he stood, the tea tray in his right hand. To an adult, he didn't seem very versed in conversation.

Ignoring this Jedi and trying to get used to a signature of the Force so threatening around her—an odd thought... She lived with Vader and, most of the time, she felt normal. Comfortable in a way. It must be her tuning into the Dark Side rejecting the Light Side of Cal Kestis. Compared to the first time she accessed the dark side through Vader, she felt very strange and bad near the light side.

Figures.

She really wanted to stand here, thinking of the absurd amount of trouble she had in her hands these days... But, to be honest, she was tired. Very tired.

With a tense sigh and scratching her eyes, she stood up, shook her black skirt, and left the Jedi's lightsaber on the center table. It may be a bad move to leave a guy she knows for about 5 minutes armed, but everything she learned says it doesn't matter—a Force user is never truly unarmed. The Force is her main weapon, a lightsaber is nothing but a tool...

By the stars, she's sounding like Vader. She really needs to rest for a few hours.

* * *

With his eyes wide open, Vader stared at the Lambda he has been traveling for the past month. Destroyed. The wings were falling and discharging electricity and smoke was rising from the hyperdrive. No matter what he does, saving the ship is not an option. With serried teeth and only a moment to control his inner rage, Vader was cut off by a mechanical voice that caught his attention.

"Oh, Lord Vader! It was a man with a lightsaber of all things—" Revan, hidden in some area of the empty spaceport, no doubt Cal Kestis cleaned the place with mental tricks of any issues, came running towards him. "But I succeeded to implant a tracker on the individual. He was in such a hurry and focused on destruction that he didn't notice the bug lodging in his communicator." His patience was rewarded with vital information. Lucky for him, he was always much more patient with droids than with people.

"You did well, droid. Now, come." with no other words nor the urge to wait, Vader turned with his cloak floating after him in the dense darkness. He had no questions that the Jedi also made a point of destroying any ship near here and messed around with landing codes, so theft would be impossible. Too much trouble also to go out wandering aimlessly in search of a ship. He needed a ship, quick. With his nerves on edge and power everlasting rising, Vader returned to the streets. By day there was a strange scarcity of people, by night even more, but now the eyes of the most slippery and vilely individuals seemed interested in him, observing him from the shadows.

He noticed the footsteps, heard the metal tingles. He knows what was happening here. And he knows very well how to deal with nuisances.

Spots and spikes of fear and surprise arose from the surrounding buildings when the blue lightsaber roared to life, its blade made for justice in his hands drenched with Jedi blood being practically poetry. Vader had no time to express his feelings for the blue lightsaber, faster and faster towards a place he was sure to have good ships, his clear point to those surrounding him. Better yet? He knew exactly where the nearest hangar to Theed's Palace was.

Yet...

A blaster shot flew out of the darkness and smoked right in front of his feet, Vader's step finally slowly ceasing.

"Hold it right there, Jedi. You are surrounded."

A voice echoed from the darkness, and Vader just confirmed what he already knew. Bounty Hunters. Palpatine posted a bounty on his head and was high enough to gather a huge pile of scum in just a casual encounter. It wasn't merely the Jedi who found him earlier than he had anticipated. That was bad... He had to be much more attentive after recovering Leia—there's no doubt the Jedi won't free her to come to him, but genocide is nothing he isn't used to.

"You're worth more alive than dead, so turn off the laser sword—"

With a Force pull, the man who spoke was brought with the speed of an acute cry out of darkness, his chest sinking into the blue saber before he could babble another word. Unscrupulously, Vader cut the saber out of the dead man and let so much blaster and body fall with deaf blows to the ground.

It was only a second before the havoc exploded. Blaster shots started flying from all sides, but a mobile Force shield made it infantile—some shots were of more powerful weapons and called for deflection by the blade, but it was nothing that he couldn't handle, his body swift and movements precise, a complete 180° in comparison with his performance on Mustafar.

Any brainless idiot enough to stand in his way found the tip of the lightsaber or was cooked until their soul joined the Force by red thunders. All he knew was that with every death, every agonized scream, more terror emerged and made even denser the already gloomy atmosphere of Theed, thus relaxing his mind, and yet, deep somewhere it all hurt in worry, fear, and... longing. Perhaps it was Padmé's resting place that made him so sensitive, but he was sure that all these feelings were directed to Leia.

The desire to protect, to have her close, to have no one steal her from her right of decision... all that he could not have when he was younger.

Memories of slavery arose in his mind as he swung the sword and deflected the shots, cutting off the flesh and ripping souls, the second increasing rapidly in scarcity. They flee or they die, both do not matter to him. Eventually, his path was almost entirely free apart from one last fool who, trembling and experiencing an intense fear that only he could install in people, tried to shoot him down. Eventually, the bounty hunter fell on his ass to the ground, the gun no longer firing, despair reaching immense heights when he saw Vader raising the blue lightsaber and not stopping his step, as if killing him was nothing. That was until he... She screamed.

"No!" it was a girl's voice, a deaf last call for mercy as she raised her hands and hid her eyes. Vader stopped his step at the same moment and faced through the Force the fallen girl a few inches from him, his metal hand freezing before adding a new soul in the Force. Young, frightened... But he noticed that by the moment she realized he had stopped his attack, her hand was already reaching for her vibrating knife. Young, frightened, but with a determination and will of steel.

"Don't throw your chance away." He didn't even know what 'chance' he was talking about, but all he did was use the Force and throw the knife away. The girl stared at him, fearful tears and fickle hiccups coming out of her throat, an age that he didn't know exactly because of the lack of light the night provided. And there he remained... The great Imperial executioner, the Jedi martyrdom... simply left the girl, probably in her first very naive contract as a bounty hunter, to get up in a hurry, a particularly strong cough in the direction of Vader who made him close his eyes in instinct. However, before he could do anything, she was already running away.

Taking a deep breath and feeling his surroundings in the Force, Vader found himself uncomfortable with himself. In fact, he ignored the smoking bodies, the ancient architecture so cherished by his daughter, and the various people in their homes, fearing and frightened, guns in their hands or holding their children as hard as they could, the authorities coming in the distance. He ignored everything because of what he had just done, his mind reeling as he resumed his step towards the castle, bold and nonchalant, taking a moment to wipe the little remnants of saliva on his face with his forearm.

He would never, never let anyone like that escape. To be a bounty hunter requires you or to like the bloodshed, or your life didn't work in many ways. Poor, miserable, useless, and seeking money in blood. This is the kind of person he hires and kills when they are no longer of use... So why? Why let her run away?

Not because... No. Impossible.

However much he labeled it impossible, the Force made a point of showing all the times when what was previously impossible for him, the big meanie Lord Sith, became introspectively comical and possible by one tiny girl; The fingers on his chest, the attitudes, the general bossy manner, the provocations, and single requests! But she... she is different! He made changes in himself because she is his daughter, he would never change the ways he acts towards the scum of the galaxy just because she asked him to!

With the Force poking at his side, Vader buried those thoughts deep as he invaded the palace from behind, Revan in silent mode following him constantly.

The massacre in the middle of the night at an open street near the palace drew a great share of attention, the corpses burning with plasma slashes being just an extra, so it was no odd occasion the reinforced security within the palace. Nothing compared to his powers; any droid that got in his way was quickly ripped apart or turned off, humans suddenly falling sleep or, out of nothing, deciding to face left. Dealing with all the problems with a sense of stealth he missed since he got into his metal coffin, the path to the hangar didn't carry any more issues. All it took was to find an ideal ship, get the droid connected to the navicomputer and start looking for the place where the Jedi took his daughter.

The problem was that the tracker had been thousands of light-years away, possibly transversing hyperspace right now... It is a lengthy and highly frustrating process. Keeping nested and attentive in the Force, Vader soon pulled out his old and worn-out comm, sterile Imperial-style black matte, exactly as he likes... Only for red lines to begin to glow all over its surface, hidden on the dry black shade until the Dark side was infused in its system.

It took just over a few seconds before a hologram of a tense young officer appeared miniaturized in the comm, a salute as he started the conversation;

"Lord Vader."

"General Piett, I shall be brief with my own words. I'll be a few more weeks late."

"Lord Vader... I-I must say that our time is running out..." this phrase has not only increased the growing frustration inside Vader but has also aroused a cold curiosity in him. Piett usually doesn't bother him about lesser problems... If there is one, there must be real importance behind it. Piett changed his feet when he noticed Vader's silence, interpreting it as a cue for him to explain himself. "The Kaminoans, sir, are increasingly concerned about their side of the contract and, in the long term, the quality of the commodity."

"And what would be the problem, General Piett?" The timbre, the slowness, and the depth of the words, spoken with the non-mechanized voice made Piett ill. His position was advantageous and well envied for someone as young as him, but he could be happier as a poor mechanic on Axxila than a wealthy general by the side of future Emperor Vader, the pressure and stress that came along with the job made he wants to sleep for whole days at the end of each shift.

Taking a deep breath, Piett soon resumed his speech.

"They want more time and resources, Lord Vader. And they want an answer from you about that thing with Project 10... fast."

Vader remained silent for five, ten seconds.

"So it shall be. I'll be back soon, let them know that very well." and, without expecting an answer from the older man—in inverted commas. It was still hard to get used to the concept of being 22 again—Vader turned off the device, the red lines eventually disappearing.

He would have to show the Kaminoans once again that they weren't in a place of contesting him, depending on what he thinks this reunion about his project will be... But his main focus was to save Leia the sooner the better, and he wouldn't have the free time he thought he would have here in Naboo, even more so now that he knows he has been found; the massacre on the streets of Theed would take care of this, the news probably reaching all levels of bounty hunters with the slightest of pride to maintain.

He crossed his arms with a distant countenance in imagining the implications of this, Leia's words of how they were still enemies being the focal point in his mind. If she sees what he is creating, if she sees the extent of his plans for his new Empire...What would she think? And when he started to take her opinion about things so seriously?

Vader was taken from his ramblings when some distinctly beeps came from the navicomputer, numbers starting to line up and names appearing. Coordinates and routes, he acknowledged.

"Lord Vader, I have found a possible quadrant where the Jedi and Princess Leia will possibly disembark in the next few hours—86%chances."

From several coordinates-routes that appeared on the navicomputer listed in a long list of possible places, the one at the top of the list left the Dark Lord with a growing expression of unease, silent as if he was looking for something in his memory... Only for a dark tension to arise in his mind. This place is dangerous, very dangerous—not specifically because of the creatures, climate, flora, or anything else... but just because of the rubbish he left there to rot. If the rubbish hadn't been properly taken care of by mother nature, then he... No, Leia. Leia would be in real trouble.

"Set the course to Ganarth immediately, droid." Taking his place on the ship now that the controls were free, Vader was quick to take off, worrying dripping from his core as hundreds of scenarios passed swiftly throughout his head, all of them his little girl being in jeopardy, worst of all not being out of reality...

He can't let that happen. If the worst happens, the galaxy won't see the end of its fury.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy molly, a lot happened in this chapter.  
> Vader has this big beef with Obi-wan that he couldn't hold the amount of rage and thus lost his focus, leading to the dark side ominous and stealthy trying to get control over him; like Sidious did for all those years with his manipulations.  
> Leia was a reasonable person and put some sense in him, as well as making serious points about the future  
> And surprise surprise, Vader does listen to her.  
> Things go to shit soon after and Leia is now going with Cal to Ganarth  
> Vader is setting sail after them, practically a ball of rage  
> \--/--  
> Oh, and I tried -- I'm no illustrator, so it's clearly bad -- to draw how I envision Leia when I write her, here are the results;  
> https://imgur.com/a/jXVmZ0y  
> \--/--  
> thank u for your time, sorry for any mistakes I made in regards to my english and I hope to see u guys next time


	13. Leia has too much shit on her shoulders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, a happy new year for you guys! The first year of the decade is over and 2021 promises!  
> Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Leia slowly opened her eyes, totally unaccustomed to the alien atmosphere that surrounded her. Her chest trembled lightly as she rose from her bed, cautious with the Force around her. There wasn't that familiar cold, much less Darth Vader's devastatingly powerful presence in every corner of the ship, the lack of all things she grew used to were making this new place feel like a prison.

Taking both lightsabers out from under her pillow, Leia stretched out her muscles, squeaking a "kriff" to herself for the sharp pain in her lower back; sleeping with her belt and the rest of her Sith armor is not cool at all.

After tidying up herself and all the regular jazz, she spent almost an hour straightening her hair at the bathroom, taking a long and satisfying bath without a drop of concern if the Jedi master would care. All things considered, she deserved a bath and no complaints about it. All set up, she was climbing up to Mantis' upper floor and doing her best to hide the tension as Cal Kestis' luminous, burning presence come closer and closer.

She found him on the common area, looking slightly inattentive to a datapad.

"Master Jedi." She greeted him as she probed him with the Force, searching naturally for any breaches in his defenses, but his power was too great and he wasn't really open to her; like Vader, for example.

"Good morning, Your Highness. There's tea in that jar over there and bread on the kitchen counter should be enough until our destination, I guess." The rusty-haired guy stared at her without that dashing introvert attitude he showed her yesterday, BD waving his robotic paw at her. Leia promptly ignored both as she picked up three loaves of bread, a cup of tea and proceeded to take a seat close to where the Jedi was sitting.

Leia waited for the Jedi to start some conversation, patiently sipping her tea... But he was too attentive in the datapad.

"What is so interesting?" she decided to ask, mindful of the Force to any trace of lost emotions.

"Huh?" he stared at her and, only when she rose her eyebrow, he released a quick 'oh, yes, of course', cleared his throat, and proceeded. "There was a massacre yesterday at Naboo."

Interestingly, she didn't shake at it. Vader was very, very far away from here—but still, the Force brought a feeling, an idea of a heavy blood drench before she slept yesterday. It was more certain to connect that thought of pain and blood to the Dark Lord than her wasted body and mind losing the battle momentarily against the dark side.

"I imagine so." It was time to be careful with her words.

"Say what? What was that supposed to mean?"

"Well, from what I know of Vader, he wouldn't simply accept what you did back on Naboo..." she watched him tremble as he did yesterday; the name Vader causes this reaction on him, even when spoken of lightly like this?

"Yes, guess you right." the Force around the Jedi vibrated enough for her to pick up a spark of pain and... anger.

"You seem to have a history with Vader." now it seemed like a good time to get information out of him, the perfect mix of curiosity and flow of conversation and her political aptitude sounding like she asked out of nowhere instead of intentionally. Cal didn't respond first, BD making a long, low noise as it stroked its master's hair with its metal paw. Looking religiously at his glass, Cal sighed before, almost ten full seconds later, speaking;

"You can word like that." He then stared deeply at her and what she felt in the Force made her very, very inquisitive. Cal let slip a reflection of how Leia looked like 'her', whoever 'she' was. Closing his fists, Cal continued. "Since that night twenty years ago, all he's brought me has been pain and suffering... It's been an ordeal living with him out there, stronger and crazier than ever. But let's not talk about it, I got you out of his clutches and I swear on my life I won't let him do you any more harm, You Highness."

Leia almost let slip that she wanted to stay with him, but her years of politics made her think twice before she might say anything that later would bring nothing but regret.

Considering what she studied from the Jedi and saw in practice, they would hardly listen to someone who willingly turns to the dark side. To say that would seal a very, very bad fate.

She simply nodded her head.

"Now, good news! Your parents called yesterday after you went to sleep and they are very, very worried about you. Their number is there on the holo-projector, just access it and they should answer. I'll be in the control room if you need me... privacy for the family meeting, of course." Clearly, in a hurry to leave, Cal took his glass and left toward the cockpit, almost stumbling along the path for how distracted he was. BD seemed to scold his lack of attention.

Leia, however, paid no attention... Her parents, that's what her mind was settled.

It had been over a whole month since she had heard the voices of her adoptive parents and, considering similar situations before she started learning in Vader's tutelage, her heart should've been cheering instantly with the news and her legs would be running towards the holocomm as fast as possible to talk with the tiny window of time she had with her beloved adoptive parents... But that was before Vader. Now, with a deep inspire but without exhaling, she faced the windowpane and the blue whirlwinds of hyperspace as if they were the most interesting things in the galaxy, glassy eyes, shut mouth, and frowning eyebrows; thinking.

Her parents... her adoptive parents.

Those who raised her, who always loved her and were always there for her...

These characteristics should be 100% related to Bail and Breha, but now it seemed wrong to address them like this.

They did raise her, they gave her a good life, and all she asked for—and it was a life shrouded by the darkness of ignorance, surrounded by thicker and thicker layers of lies... to protect her.

They always loved her yes, she was encircled by attention and affection from infancy—and yet, when did any of them sit with her and told her... the truth? All her lessons were about how bad the rise of the Empire was and how the Republic never did anything wrong. They systematically alienated her so that she would never challenge the idea of a Republic... To protect her?

And then they were always there for her, she always trusted them and assumed they were right—and still, they hid what made her special. They hid a whole world, a part of her soul from her... to... protect her?

Every time she spoke to herself, every time the thought crossed her mind, it seemed more and more redundant; false. They created her and loved her, but they did it the way they wanted, the way that makes her a doll for their agendas and ideals... and not the right way; no lies, no slanders, with transparency and confidence that she'd make the best decisions with the knowledge she gained through experience and training.

This completely blemished what they are for her.

... But she still loves them.

Her heart ached with doubt and longing, her legs became restless, and her logical compass didn't know exactly how to respond to such thoughts. So, when her mind was filled with uncertainty and her heart with ambivalence, the Force weighing down on her shoulders and the Dark Side trying its best to kriff her mind, she could turn to the only one bastion where there was safety, truth, and trust; Vader.

Taking a deep breath, Leia brought the worst of the worst of her thoughts to the surface, calling out the darkness and strongly seducing it with pain and doubts... And when it approached, amused by the easy prey, Leia attacked and chained the Dark Side without any pity. With this step taken and the power flowing through her blood, she was able to quickly put herself in a meditative process, as close as she could to the Force, seeking answers and help.

The Force pulled her from one idea to another, some very vague and some very obscure. She sought, followed her instincts, and trusted fully in her teachings... There was the moment that the Light approached her dangerously, an image of a person—a human girl, brown and straight hair, green eyes and even some freckles, smiling... vaguely familiar to her—but the Light presented no more danger than usual, so Leia continued as if it wasn't there. Finally, after hardship and confusion, she found her answer, and, with a long sigh and solitude, opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was her previously hot cup of tea, now cold and bland. There were still the blue flows of hyperspace outside... And Cal was constantly probing her from the cockpit.

There was no danger...

Leaving that aside for now, Leia stood up—a little sore for sitting motionless for hours—and walked up to the holo-projector, looking for the most recent number on calls, immediately recognizing the dozens of Rebel cryptographs in the call box. She hesitated momentarily when she found the number of her father, but all it took was a nudge of resilience from the Force that she, trembling but sure of herself, clicked to initiate a call.

_I can use the Force… I have the potential to be the most powerful Sith to ever live…_

The call started ringing.

_If Palpatine had trained me, I would have been like that inquisitor on Mustafar... Or worse._

One of her fingers began to rhythmically beat against the metal of the round table surrounding the holo-projector.

_The Republic isn't that good..._

It was still calling, the three holo ellipses separating her from her adoptive parents.

_The Jedi Order isn't that good..._

She was getting very, very impatient with the delay, her breathing quickly became intense and an urge to turn off and run began to rise, but she wouldn't run.

_Padmé Amidala is my biological mother… I’d love to have her by my side now._

For no reason, she felt her eyes burning with tears. Her lungs suddenly stung and it was like having a mask preventing her from breathing at all.

_Darth Vader... **He is** **my—**_

"Leia?"

With her eyes wide open, she faced the miniature projection of Bail Organa, as tall and imposing as ever, a figure who demanded respect but still exuded compassion and charity. A character she always aspired to be the same, an aura she wanted to carry and, with it, inspire the people around her... The figure that inspired her to change the galaxy.

"Leia... It's you! You are well, by the Stars you are well! It's been so long, and I was so worried and..." Bail let out a long sigh of relief, heavy chest as he leaned on the support of the holo-projector and, in this way, kept his emotions from taking him to the ground, but the tears of joy that escaped told her he was barely managing it.

She just stood there, staring at him and her eyes full of tears and silent.

"Your mother and I missed you so much, and then there was all the news and people were saying so many things... And every day we had to live knowing that you were in danger and that, any second, something terrible could happen to you." He passed his hand through his hair, a symbol of how tense he was. " But that nightmare is finally over. You're safe and—"

Leia, finally, spoke;

"Why?" she whispered and instantly caught Bail's attention. A half-smile telling her that he didn't quite understand the question; he was not focused, he lost his composure.

"Could you please repeat?... It's so nice to hear your voice, daughter." for some reason, that word almost made her tremble.

"Why so many... lies?" she asked, and Bail's relieved smile easily began to wave which, frankly, unnerved her greatly. "Would you ever tell me all those things that you hide from me eventually?"

"... Leia, I know what he might have said... But you have to know; it's not the truth."

"No, it wasn't lies!" It was fast and she controlled herself too much not to raise her voice too much, her fists trembling as she held the holo-projector counter. She loved this man, her adoptive father... She respected him, admired him, aspired to be like him... So why he can't be truthful with her?!

"Listen to me, daughter!" His voice almost sounded very nearly desperate, but Bail was a born-to-be politician. "What your mother and I did, everything we told you, was to protect you from the Emperor—"

"It wasn't!" She beat her teeth, but the pain was ignored for the number of emotions she exhaled in a single moment, the heart beating to the thousands and the mind running frantically. She was losing her composure since the beginning, the very thing a politician should hold tightly... She was a kriffing disgrace, but she didn't care by now. "It was manipulation! You deceived me all my life so that I would listen to you without blinking, without ever disputing! You never gave me options because everything you objectively taught me prevented me from thinking differently than you or any other person of the Rebellion!" She had to breathe heavily to catch her breath, tears falling down her red cheeks.

"Leia, calm down, you have to listen to me! You can't let his words come to you—"

"Don't you respect me?! I am just some kind of kid that never knows the truth of things because it hurts for you? I don't deserve the kriffing truth?!" She seemed really angry but, on the inside, she desperately wanted him to say 'yes, sorry for lying, I will try to be better'... And she'd happily accept this. She craved that vision of a man of truth and virtue that was her adoptive father once more, a man that she wanted to be equal... Because if he didn't fill this role... Then she knows, even if she doesn't like it, who would do.

Starry-eyed and practically pale, the politician could only look at his adopted daughter without saying a word for almost five whole seconds;

"Leia..." She quickly cut him.

"Didn't you ever think you should tell me all those things? That I should have known? Do you have any clue of what was going to happen if Sidious had sensed the Force within me, even the smallest, tiniest fractions of Force Sensitivity at all those days I worked at the Senate?!... What is your excuse, tell me honestly?" that last question was a clear appeal. Don't lie to me, please. Tell the truth, let me preserve that spark of pride and respect of you that for so long I have called father.

Bail faced her in utter disbelief, Leia begging for an answer.

"Leia... We wanted to protect you."

"Tell me, the truth of your intentions." one more chance.

"It's not a lie, all that I and your mother did was for you! Try to understand—" his voice was shaking.

"The truth!" she shouted, giving him another chance.

"Leia, please..."

"Tell me the kriffing truth!" she did not notice the dark side rising inside her mind, or her hands hovering closer and closer to the lightsabers. She was going to give just one more... just one more chance.

"Leia... my daughter." Bail used everything he learned in his political career to harden his face, but a tear inevitably escaped his eyes.

"…"

"It was for your safety, it's everything I can say because this is the truth." he barely whispered.

It took exactly four seconds to Leia act.

Rising her lightsaber above her head, Leia stared at Bail Organa's hologram, her eyes wide open and her mouth thin as a line, tears slipping faster and faster from her eyes, a hurricane of pain, anger, and betrayal. She saw Bail walk away one foot instinctively, the Force poked her over Cal Kestis cautious, prepared to stop her with that technique on the bridge...

However, what calmed her was an invisible hand that, solemnly, reached her shoulder, resting there as if accustomed to hanging on that place, but the esoteric feeling made the sensation almost... ethereal. The hand wasn't truly there, it was all the way somewhere across the stars.

Leia's knuckles became whitish, the Force circled her like a whirlwind and the dark side tried to tear her will and finally open the gates of all her sorrow and anger to dominate her mind and thus transform her into something she despises... But this is not what she is. It wasn't what she was taught, it was not what she learned from him. She stood there for one, two seconds, the red blade menacingly raised and eyes locked with those of Bail...

... And then she withered like a dead flower.

Her shoulders fell with the weight of the galaxy over her, the lightsaber turning off with a dull noise and, with her eyes shining brightly with tears and extreme tiredness that until then wasn't visible, Leia turned with one of her forearms on her face, letting out low grunts as she ran, trembling uncontrollably and long steps towards her room, not daring to look back. For the first time since she set foot on the Death Star, she finally couldn't take it anymore. It was too much for her to bear.

All the lies she believed, all the pain she went through, all the changes she was obligated to go. Everything.

Leia stumbled on the stairs, a pink bulb growing on her forehead with the deaf thump against the metal. Ignoring this, she went to her room and, without even closing the door, threw herself on the bed and grabbed her pillow as if it were the only thing keeping her sane for the moment.

... She hated this place, the unfamiliarity, the alien warmth that plagued every corner. She hated that sunny light that threatened to decompose her skin and blind her eyes. She hated the sense of weakness and impotence that took over her body. She hated that she almost lost her head to the dark side, even though she tried so hard to keep it on chains... And she hated above all how her mind changed her view of Bail Organa. With red cheeks and eyes flooding with tears, she sank even deeper into her pillow.

Hours later, she couldn't shed any more tears. Her eyes were still burning and swollen, but no tear could form anymore. She thought herself a bit of an idiot to think that, crying a bunch, she would be capable of lightening the burden off her shoulders—it didn't happen, of course. So here she is, looking at the wall of the room, turning the lightsaber in the air with the Force, face depressed and sniffing from time to time.

Her eyes stared at Cal Kestis sluggishly appearing at the open door, her rigid and strange posture showing discomfort. Leia stared at him for about a moment before, irritated at herself, tried to fix her posture on the bed so as not to look so kriffing pitiful and lame; all she got was pull both legs into her chest and raise her knees to hide part of her face, thus resting her chin on her thighs, partially hiding her face.

"Hey... Uh, sorry to disturb you, but is it all right if I come in?" he asked a few seconds later, probably used to gather courage.

Leia didn't answer directly, calling the lightsaber to her hand and hiding it in her black clothes, turning her eyes away from the Jedi Master.

"I'll deal with this as a yes—excuse me..." With slow steps, he held back from turning on the light in the room; the mere glance into her eyes in the penumbra showed how of a bad move that'd be. He was then quick to pull ta chair out of the desk and put it next to the bed, sitting calmly... and was silent then.

The brown-haired girl noticed as a late reflection how much he was suppressing his connection to the Force, barely visible to her if she tried to probe towards him... He wouldn't even notice if she turned on her lightsaber and ripped his head off his shoulders, now that he closed his eyes in meditation. But that's not what she is. Sighing softly, she looked at her nails, missing her beautiful white enamel.

And then she passed her hand through her hair, slightly damp and very delicate, a proof of her zealous care with her chocolate strands. Then she looked at her lightsaber, the one which she normally uses on her right hand because the arch is more appropriate, it was almost the day to check the internal chamber and do any necessary maintenance...

Her eyes fell on Cal for a moment, still and meditating like a monolith, silent in the Force.

She tried to meditate too, but the mental weariness left her totally out of sync with the Force. Meditating now is like opening the doors to the dark side and let it feast on her kriffed up state. Rhythmically tapping a finger against her knee, she found herself with an inherent desire to talk... not exactly about what, just talk.

Once again she faced the Jedi master, trying to suppress this strange desire that bloated on her throat. Cal, almost imperceptibly, nodded in agreement.

"You repudiate the soothing waves of the Force... Your training is extensive if you can do this naturally." He spoke, joining his hands together. Only now did Leia manage to notice that he had not brought his elongated lightsaber with him; it was not synonymous of overconfidence or idiocy, for a user Force user is never truly unarmed... It still calmed her down, even if only by a bit. "And your control is praiseworthy. The way you managed to suppress the dark side and save yourself was superb—I never got that level of control until I became a Jedi Knight."

She stared at him for a few seconds, chin still hidden. There were no lies in his words, only clear and open honesty.

"Vader says I'm a prodigy..." her hoarse voice made her frown, as well as a dry throat, made her quite uneasy.

"It's strange to say that, but I have to agree with him. And not only in the Force, I suppose so; You entered Soresu 4° movement the moment you raised your lightsaber, fast and precise, your feet exactly where they should be for maximum strength... You would have given an impeccable Jedi with this level of precision."

Leia closed her eyes to that last sentence, staring at the Jedi master. There was that feeling again coming from him, but now it was enveloped in longing and the anger and sadness were chilling cold.

"But... A Jedi in these times is never truly safe. The dark side wraps the galaxy with a clutch of steel, the slightest spark from the light is pursued and the user is either killed by inquisitors or... by him." anger and sadness threatened to rise, but... loss was much more prominent. "Children sensitive to the Force are either captured or killed if the affinity with the dark side is too small. These are difficult times to train a Jedi..."

She noticed what he was doing. She wanted to refute him, speak out against him, or just ignore that painful truth... But she couldn't, it's not what she would do. Her political mind forced her to think on both sides of the coin, forced her to at least try to understand Bail and Breha's motifs. And then she began to think, and as much as it was true that they wanted to protect her, everything went pale in view of how the truths and the very reality were manipulated. She'd only know what they wanted her to know. They preached equality of thought, but they never let her see the other side, they never wanted her to consider the other side. All she learned her whole life was Rebellion, Jedi, and the Republic; the tools of equality, peace, and a good life...

Except that much was omitted and the rest were lies, shameful lies.

And she hates it. She hates the lack of transparency, the obscure machinations of the bureaucracy, and the corruption—for that she has entered the political branch, to try her best to purify these things... She knows it impossible a galaxy without these, but she does know that with the right attitude and cunning plans she could, at least, bring these exorbitant numbers to the low spectrum.

But to think she was fighting for a lie. She still wanted to bring the Rebellion to victory, destroy the Empire, and bring back the Republic... But never, never in her life was she going to bring back that same Republic from before the end of the Clone Wars. She was going to fight for a much better Republic and, yet, this raises the question; who would stand by her side? Her adoptive parents would not want the Republic she was aiming for, let alone the other Rebel leaders... And Vader is looking for an Empire, they would separate as soon as her training is over.

She would be alone and with no one to protect her back, she would be an easy target for stabs in the dark. For no reason she could discern now, the story of Ahsoka Tano and Darth Plagueis came to her mind, but she had no time to elaborate, being taken from her thoughts by Cal Kestis.

"But I do understand the pain you are going through."

Leia stared him ugly and, frowning, replied;

"You know nothing. You never had a family, Jedi—it is against the code." He gazed at her momentarily, genuine curiosity hovering around him. Eventually, he let a sigh escape before resuming his speech.

"Well, I guess I'm a terrible Jedi then."

This caught her attention, the Force keeping her even too attentive to the information, whispering to her the giant importance they carried. Taking the girl's silence as a clue for more information, Cal joined both hands again and pondered, smiling sadly at nothing before finally letting go. This girl was pure power, he saw during her demonstration as she almost destroyed the holo-projector with raw, unadulterated power... But there was also a firm and strong control, the kind of control that he hardly saw in a Sith. Darth Vader tried to break her indeed, but the girl's spirit showed itself made of durasteel, and yet she is not unbreakable... There is a dark side inside her, but she resists and stays strong. If he doesn't train her, if he can't bring her into the light in time, the galaxy will truly suffer.

The first step to take her into the light is to make her trust him— **trust the Jedi**.

"Do you prefer the long version or the short version?"

She did not answer, closing her eyes slightly.

"Right, the short version will be. Let me see..." scratching his unshaven face, he rapidly began to spoke, a dreamy glee in his eyes. "A few years ago, during a mission, I met a Dathomirian woman, Merrin was her name. We liked each other a lot, but we couldn't really put it on the table—I have the code and she was taught by her culture to ignore this kind of feeling—but that was until we met a lost, young girl; a youngling who ran away from the temple during Order 66" his smile waved with sadness. "Amazing girl. Strong, smart, and hardheaded, captivated me and her... It ended that she was the missing glue and brought us together."

There was no drop of happiness when he scratched his chin, eyes locking on Leia askance, the nostalgia rising to astronomical levels.

"But something happened, right?" Leia asked, features a little softer with this story of the Jedi master, even if the Force got tense inside her. If she was going to guess, there was 'Vader' in the middle of it all, which made her plan to talk about that she was with him because she wanted it much, much harder.

Cal nodded.

"He... managed to locate my base of operations. It was in the might of one regular night that the attack began, unease silence. He didn't come with the Executor or a large fleet, just him in a Lambda." He moistened his lips, one hand passing through his rust-colored hair; Leia had not noticed before, but his whole arm, the left one, seemed slightly discolored in comparison to the other. "There was me, Merrin, Cere—a former Jedi Master—Greez and Mira. He suppressed his Force Signature until he got to the gates when he blew them up, his power waking all Force Sensitivities out of the blue. Cere was the first to rush in, but he would not make the same mistake twice." He pressed his hands together when he said that, slightly tenser. "Greez tried to turn Mantis on, but he threw our own radio tower at the ship and destroyed part of the wing. We all tried to fight after this, of course..."

The silence that followed showed the results of that attempt.

"He killed almost everyone. I only managed to escape because of my wife's magic. Without that he would have killed me like he killed everyone during Order 66." with that last quote, the short story was over. This silence was different, for it was used to think. Leia knew very well what Vader can do, the things he was capable of... she prepared to have her mind destroyed by him back on the Death Star. But seeing all they went through together, all he taught her... it was hard to see him just like that tyrant inside a black armor like she did when she saw him for the first time. Until she saw it with her own eyes, until she witnessed this unimaginable cruelty, Vader will never be just that for her.

But this 'Order 66'... She saw the name on Mustafar, quickly but she dis; Vader commented once in a while and now Cal Kestis spoke with such an obscure tone and, if she is taking his words to the full extend, Order 66 was Vader killing all the Jedi. With this growing curiosity inside her, Leia was cut off before she could speak.

"Your parents did whatever they did because they know how dangerous it is for a Force-sensitive to live in these dark times. You may be angry with them, but keeping that anger inside you will just open the way for the dark side to grow stronger within you—and I can assure you that if you keep your heart away from the anger, you can be one of the most powerful Jedi that ever existed."

"Like Bastilla Shan?" She didn't think when she said it, but she didn't totally regret it at first. It was a bad move to quote a Sith now, even more, one of that caliber... But seeing how Kenobi reacted when Vader asked the Sith Code, What would Cal say?

"Who?"

_Um..._

"Nobody. Just a digression."

"Ah, right... Well, at least you can be stronger than me or my former apprentice, Mira. You two look a lot like each other, anyway."

She'd heard him quote that name before, but she didn't pay much attention... but the Force was strangely heavy around that name.

"Now, I have to go check the navicomputer, we will reach Ganarth in just a few hours." Cal got up, heavy from sitting for so long in the uncomfortable chair. His steps became slow when he put his hand against one side of the knob, lowering his head for a moment before looking at Leia. "And if you have anything to say or just want to vent, be my guest; I'll try my best to be helpful—Jedi promise." He raised his hand as if he was fully committed to this small promise, a half-smile on his pale face marked by the pain of that story of his life. With one last exchange of glances, he left the room and closed the door behind him softly.

Silent and thoughtful for about two minutes, Leia eventually got up from bed with a snitch. Using the Force and bringing both lightsabers into her hands and rapidly fastening them on her belt, she straightened her skirt and sat on her knees on the floor, breathing in and out rhythmically. At a time like this where her mind was full of information and tried to assimilate each one to a furious degree, meditation was her best course of action so as not to go nuts.

And there she stayed.

* * *

Squeezing the lightsaber between his fingers, Luke solemnly faced Ahsoka—his master—from the other side of their closed training room.

"Remember, Skyson; Let the Force flow through your movements, your body will respond accordingly." The blond simply nodded, taking a deep breath as he repeated the training he had been doing for the past month concerning becoming 'one with the Force'. It was still an abstract concept, but he thought it was going rather well; Ahsoka was surprised at his absurd development and, by her words, he was an absolute prodigy with both the Force and the lightsaber.

When the Light became brighter within him, he heard the two whistles of Ahsoka's lightsabers, her slow and almost inaudible steps coming towards him.

On the togruta side, she thought that this training would be another successful one like all involving combat so far. Completely different from Anakin, Luke was cool-headed and valued the connection to the Force much more than the pure skill of saber-fighting, so it's been very easy to teach him... She'd have gone crazy if she had to teach someone like her old master.

Today was the third introduction class to Djam So; as he only had Anakin's lightsaber—an extremely heavy and difficult to handle by common lightsaber standards—the fighting-style that used both the strength of the saber and the muscles of the body would be the best for a seasoned farm boy.

And then the fight began, Ahsoka landing blows slowly, nonfinite movements, easy for Luke to defend and dodge.

"Right foot, further back." She said and, immediately, Luke corrected his posture and defended the thrusting attack of her shoto.

Luckily for her, Luke pulled his mother's adaptability, that she can speak with confidence.

"Remember to listen to the whispers of the Force; it's your friend and it's there to help you." Since he was getting used to her speed, she increased it. Luke showed difficulties in holding off the stronger attacks but soon caught on at an ever-faster pace with the togruta. The Force said exactly where each attack was going to hit, his hands and feet were moving in a good hurry and his mind was processing calmly, even if the adrenaline was increasing in his veins.

... That continued until he remembered the day before. Early in the morning, during his break after his meditation and training, Luke was looking for more information about his father on the internet, like he usually does...

Yes... His father is Darth Vader—not the one with the Emperor—but the one who kidnapped the beautiful princess of Aldeeran for some reason. He knew very well that the man he idolized in his dreams is a very, very evil guy who did unforgivable things, that he is a powerful Sith Lord who destroyed the entire Jedi order, helped bring down the Republic, and spread terror in everyone's heart for years.

And yet...

What made him do what he did? By Obi-wan's words, by Ahsoka's ramblings and stories, his father was a great man and a hero of the Republic until he suddenly turned to the dark side and became Darth Vader. Yes, there was what Obi-wan said about his mother... But something seemed to be missing in that story, something that'd change his perspective of things. Something that should have been there but was hidden from him.

Anyway. His curiosity for his father always leads him to look more about him. Once in a while, there's a photo, a post about his whereabouts; very small things.

That was until yesterday.

Naboo, 2000 hours on a street on the way to the Royal Palace. Several security cameras, either from houses or holocomm recordings, but all directed at the same man; his father. Anakin—Vader—was alone this time and carried a blue lightsaber, a black cape hovering behind him. Dozens of videos recorded the events, but it began with him walking silently and fast-paced down a street, in a clear hurry... His walk then became rigid and slower, as if he expected something to happen. The lightsaber came to life, but he didn't attack anything and continued walking.

Then, out of the darkness, a blaster shot flew and almost hit his father's foot. When he saw it he was not only in shock but amazed too. His father noticed the attacker before he even revealed himself, the lightsaber turning on being a warning. He wasn't going to do harm to them if they don't do harm to him.

"Hold it right there, Jedi." A voice spoke from the darkness, his father stopping completely. With the light of the lightsaber, it was easier to see his features; he was impassively, almost irritated.

The bounty hunters—as it was said on the news—said something more, but his father immediately raised his hand, pulled the man and without a single moment of hesitation, pierced him with the plasma blade, and not two moments later a barrage of red shots began to distort the cameras with frenzy lights and sounds... But his father stood there in the midst of the shots, high and mighty, defending shots that didn't bounce on the Force Shield—can you do something like that with the Force?!—around him. And Luke got glazed up, excited. He even caught himself saying "Watch out...!" when a shot passed too close.

Almost a minute later, the shooting barrage was reduced to merely one person that hardly could handle the blaster on their hand, all the others dead or running away. His father was going to kill it, but she screamed something, revealing it to be a girl, and... he took pity on her, not killed her.

At that moment a small spark of hope was born within his chest; he could still hope for his father, he wasn't totally consumed by the dark side as Obi-wan or Ahsoka said. After that, he actually disappeared in the night, no camera being able to capture him, but it seemed that a strange robot was following him.

Luke knew it was so wrong. Jedi doesn't fight like that, executing people with strong and destructive movements... But every time he re-watched the video, he felt more compelled to imitate his father's lightsaber movements. He watched the video a million times and, giving up to his curiosity of the style, trained during the night in his room, practically memorizing every swing of the lightsaber in that one-minute, forty-seven-second video.

And when he saw Ahsoka step back and spin around her axis so that she'd hit the two Lightsabers at the same time on his left side, he imagined she would expect a defense on the left and then a superior attack, like in Djam So...

But Luke stepped to the side and, raising his saber high, tried to hit Ahsoka hard where her wrists were, just as his father did to that man who tried to stab him with a vibroblade. The togruta, surprised, reacted quickly by turning off both sabers down and rolling under Luke's next attack which was a wide horizontal cut. A two-hit combo; first you tore your opponents' means of attack and then rip his head off. Surprised by this unexpected development, Ahsoka spoke up;

"Luke, what was—"

Luke, however, tried to land a direct hit on her, in which Ahsoka had to use her shoto to redirect it to the right. With this impulse, Luke turned his saber and executed a strong attack on Ahsoka's left side, the togruta defending the attack with both her lightsabers—the power behind the attack did not go unnoticed, just like the combination. You fake a stab and your opponent parries it to the side, but then you turn the lightsaber a full circle and slash your opponents left side before he can even think; a movement of Djam So combined with Shii-Cho third movement, an especial counter made by Anakin especially for Count Dooku.

Pulling the saber back and lifting it over his head, Luke threatened a superior attack... But if what Ahsoka was imagining was true...

Kicking Luke's knee before he could kick her, Ahsoka raised her and pulled the lightsaber out of Luke's hand; an astonished look on his face.

"Ouch, how did you know?!" he looked surprised.

"Spare me, Skyson, I've fought your father a million times." With a sigh, she returned the lightsaber to him and turned off her own two. "Yesterday's video influenced you more than I thought it would. Do you wonder why I don't teach you the fighting style I learned from my master?" she asked, arms crossed and a severe look.

"Yes, master... It's a style of the Clone Wars; not good for a true Jedi."

"Exactly, and why is that so?"

"Because it induces anger and hinders calm and serenity of the other styles."

It wasn't the first time Luke had shown this behavior of copying the techniques he saw. Once in a while, when he found a video of the Clone Wars or even reviewed the video of Anakin on the Death Star, he tended to use that combat... the very symbol and cause of what made the Jedi fall.

"Sorry, Master."

Ahsoka put both hands on her hips before, with a singing smile, messed up Luke's sweaty hair.

"It's okay, eventually you'll find the best Jedi style for you when we go to Illum and you get your own lightsaber."

Luke seemed excited for a moment, just to rub his thumb on the metal of his father's lightsaber... He tried to use two lightsabers like Ahsoka, but it never felt right. The fight with only one and the Force was what he felt best about. So if he could get a new Lightsaber, carrying his father's wouldn't just get in the way, but the living danger of him losing it. And... It was the only thing he had from that man; not from Vader, from Anakin Skywalker, the Jedi.

Ahsoka realized this and got a little closer to Luke, drawing his attention.

"You shouldn't have attachments to this, Luke... This thing." he pointed to the lightsaber. "It was a tool he used to slay his own people, not a trophy worthy of keeping. He's not him anymore, Luke. It hurts, but it's the truth."

Luke remembered the video where, for no apparent reason, Vader took pity on a bounty hunter.

"But... what if there still is, master? If there's still light in him?"

"There is not." her voice came louder than before, rigid and rapid, practically making Luke flinch. Ahsoka felt bad for a moment but she didn't excuse and kept talking, low and firm. "I've been face to face with it, with Vader." She must be talking about the history of the Sith Temple on Malachor. "And what I saw in those eyes, in his words... There is nothing but darkness there—the lightsaber may be a good memento and it is said to mean the life of a Jedi, but the master I had... died to the dark side, what is left is Darth Vader. The sooner you know that the Dark Side path is a dead-end..." she still looked at Luke, but her lost gaze showed that she was stirring up her memories. "... Less pain you'll have to carry when the time comes."

This last phrase took Luke by surprise, especially the feeling of grief that was densely roaming in the Force. Not really understanding this and a little suspicious, Luke tried to ask, but Ahsoka spoke first;

"You better go meditate for a good while, Luke. The last thing you want is your head heavy with all these thoughts when we arrive at Yavin 4."

Luke stared at her for just one more moment before, lowering his head and rubbing the lightsaber one last time, saying;

"Yes, master."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bruh, these last days of 2020 were crazy! I had this chapter done by day 19, but I couldn't translate or post it until today. Had to pass the xmas and new year with my grandparents at Minas, and the only entertainment was poke the chickens and my DS, writing wasn't truly something to do. It was fun, nevertheless.  
> So, this chapter;  
> Leia endured so much shit in the span of a month that, when things came crashing down, she couldn't handle it... But she did keep true to herself and didn't bonk the holoprojector.  
> She and Cal have a nice little conversation  
> Luke -- binged earlier Mandalorian, gzuis cristo what a finale -- and Ahsoka training a bit, and Luke has his hopes for his father shaken by skeptical Ahsoka; you can't judge her after the end of Cw and Rebels, I know I wouldn't, but he still has hopes for him, even against Obi-wan's previous sayings and Ahsoka advice.  
> Next chapter will be a nice one!  
> Thank u for your time, hope to see you next time!


	14. Leia is not having a nice time and Luke has a big heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, what a hell of a start to a year. Had to concentrate on the Enem until 24 and, after that, work. Barely had time to read or write.  
> 66 bookmarks... good, good; _laughs in sith lord_  
>  But here it is! Next chapter we end this arc!

_**The story of the arc:** _

_**Vader and Leia went to Naboo for Leia’s training, the dark lord imagining that was the right time for her to know her true origins and, with that, come in terms with her growing power and understand exactly her place in the universe. Things go south when Vader is confronted by Obi-wan, a duel that could end in disaster for both sides being interrupted by Leia’s faith that things could change for the better if they come to a truce. Vader reluctantly, but proud of his daughter, agrees and so does Obi-wan, but the Jedi didn’t have the time to speak to Cal Kestis about it, so Leia is kidnapped by the Jedi, thinking it’s a rescue mission.** _

_**Vader goes berserk but doesn’t kill Obi-wan, killing an ambush of bounty hunters in his way of finding a new ship and, surprisingly, sparing of the hunters that asked for mercy. He now is hours behind Cal Kestis.** _

_**Leia has a conversation with her adoptive father, Bail Organa, that ends in turmoil as she realizes a majority of her life was deep on lies, these thoughts however didn’t have the chance to grow in her because Cal Kestis had a conversation with her about the topic and even used his story as an example, making Leia doubt if she handled the situation on her best.** _

_**Luke and Ahsoka are going to Yavin 4 to reunite with the Rebellion.** _

* * *

_A few hours passed and they were landing in one of the hangars of Yavin 4._

Everything would be normal until then, Luke recognizes. They are at Yavin 4 so Ahsoka can have a conversation with Bail about Leia, the girl his father kidnapped. However, as soon as they were connected by the Central, an urgent message arrived for his master, calling her to a meeting which they were about to take part in as soon as they entered through the last door in the hall.

Luke whispered an apology to a Gonk Droid after he stumbled on the poor thing and knocked it on the ground, pulling it back to its feet right after. Fixing the lightsaber stuck on his belt and taking a slightly nervous posture— after all, it's a meeting between the most important people inside the Rebellion and his master. Important things are fated to be talked about there —he looked one last time at his master, searching for guidance or comfort.

Ahsoka looked at him from top to bottom, observing the brown Jedi robe he gained from Obi-wan and half-smirking.

"What?"

"Nothing", she answered condescendingly. Luke watched her place her finger against the fingerprint reader, thus making the door open.

In front of them, a room with few distinct people appeared, one he knew from face-to-face, Bail Organa, and a woman with compound and short hair he saw at once in the holonews, Mon Mothma... But that's not exactly what caught his attention. Until then he was ignorant of the situation and, when the wave of tension in the Force assaulted his ears he couldn't hide a shocked face.

The senators were silent and composed, but they'd never succeed in lying to the Force: fear and despair, confusion and anxiety. An uncontrolled situation threatened them in some way... Something gravely bad was going on and, to solve it, they needed the help of their master.

"Come in, Jedi masters."

"Excuse me...", Luke did not let go of his good manners as he entered, Ahsoka in front of him.

Along with the senators, a few elite guards were at their posts, tense faces and emanating resolve as well as fear in the Force. With this request and a casual look from Mon, the guards passed by Luke and Ahsoka, closing the door on their way out, which left only the four inside the room what, for no motive that Luke understand, make the atmosphere even tenser for him. Apparently not having the patience for anything beyond the main point of the meeting, Bail suddenly started talking, a hint of despair in his voice;

"We have reports of Darth Vader's whereabouts."

This seemed to cheer him and his master but in very different ways.

"So our spies are finally being of good use— the latter ones haven't lasted long," Ahsoka spoke without a trace of her usual calm joy, much more severity in her words that blended together with unbridled focus with the mission ahead. She probably wasn't expecting good news, given her reaction. Luke was a bit more hopeful.

"No, it wasn't from any spy. It was from Obi-wan."

Both Jedi had again divergent reactions. Luke was confused in a way but much more relieved that Obi-wan was apparently fine. It's been almost a whole month since he heard from the old man. Ahsoka's, however, brought the aforementioned confusion, now with coldness and fear. The odd ice corroded her Force's signature and her posture always ready for combat broke for few moments, mouth open but no speech and puzzled eyes. With a long breath, Ahsoka licked her lips before speaking.

"He failed, then."

Bail denied it with his head and, for a second, Luke swore he saw exposed teeth in an angry face.

"Cal managed to rescue Leia and is now heading to Ganarth..."

"'But'. Ahsoka said, a nerve in the corner of her forehead as she crossed her arms.

This time, Mon spoke.

"But Vader didn't respond the way we thought he would." Luke was guilty of cheering when he heard this, and he barely held himself of hurrying Bail for information. Ahsoka said that the apprentice's place is to observe the master speaking and only speak when the word is addressed to them. "He... is pursuing Cal Kestis for about 17 hours, his intention to probably regain Leia's possession".

"... What?"

Luke has seen his master in many, many ways. Angry, condescending, funny and playful, even sarcastic, attentive and strong, calm and determined... But he'd never saw raw despair painting her face, threatening to explode beneath her skin at an opportune moment.

"That... doesn't make any sense. Vader never went after hostages before. It's been years that I shadow his moves and not a single time he tried to retrieve hostages, let alone... alone! It'd be a careless move to do so when he tore ties with Sidious for less than two months now. And, besides, what value does Leia have to him?!" Ahsoka seemed irritated on the surface as she almost yelled, a question not only for the others but to herself. With the silence following her small explosion and a single look at her padawan, slowly, she tried to calm down and put together a more civilized expression. "It's a disturbing move..."

Bail swallowed a lump before talking.

"Obi-wan, not expecting for such development, took a long time to get a ship and reach a safe base of the Rebellion... We have this information too late to properly act. Cal can't redefine coordinates, and in a few hours, he'll land at the Academy."

Vader would be before he actually got there, as in everything he had about the man locations... And that was amazing by itself. Unfortunately, Yavin is three days away from Ganarth then, even if he knows, he couldn't do anything about it unless Vader stays on the planet for more than three days which is most improbable. What came afterward was this 'Academy'. Luke faced his master with an inquiring look, but all he received was a slow nod of denial.

"They won't be able to deal with Vader..."

"Evacuation is possible, but also a great risk— we'd need a Light Cruiser to transport everyone from there and, no doubt, this would enter the Empire's radar. After the Death Star threatening Nal Hutta, this could turn into a catastrophe."

That was an event that passed in each and every Holo net station yesterday and a concerning development for all the galaxy. Everybody knows and fears what the Death Star was capable and if it was necessary or if the Emperor wanted it to happen, they wouldn't think twice before pushing the button and wipe an entire planet outta existence, even if said planet is home to the biggest and most perverse Cartel in the galaxy. As for the media, it was depicted as a maneuver to destroy corruption and bring prosperity to the common imperial citizen, clearing the galaxy of vile monsters like the Hutts. However, for his master, this was nothing more than Palpatine gaining even more power.

 _"Sidious wants everything in the galaxy and he won't share anything with Hutts, Black Sun, or anyone else— he's a black hole, sucking everything in order to strengthen himself and his ego and what's not useful for him must be destroyed, for it stands in his path. A weapon capable of destroying planets nullifies any possible foe of him."_ She said when they watched the news.

"And what are we going to do, then? We cannot just let Vader get there and repeat the Order 66." Ahsoka asked, the Force wrenching itself more and more around her.

The silence that came after his master's question was a very bad sign. Bail kept touching his fingers against the table, creating deaf thuds, his eyes focused on the table's metalwork as he looked for any idea to bring up the surface... Still, the Force was condescendingly spinning around the former senator and Luke didn't receive any answers from when he mentally wondered if it was because Vader was still pursuing Cal Kestis.

It took another thirty seconds, Ahsoka hardly keeping her patience at bay, for Mon to speak calmly and intense. An intense calm, what a paradox... But for the senator and the situation, it worked;

"We will not evacuate the planet." The anger that jumped from his master so sudden was enough to squeeze the heart of the former farmer of humidity. Mon noticed her anger and, raising one of her hands, began to explain herself. "Evacuation means that the Empire as well as the users on the dark side if I'm right, would most certainly notice us. All it takes is one mistake and, without a doubt, the Light Cruiser will be tracked and invaded. Evacuation is not something we can risk".

"But, what about Leia?! If she's there when Vader arrives, he will...!" The anger that was eating the Aldeeranian senator alive was cut short by the other senator, not even flinching or losing her utmost calm.

"To attract the Empire's attention now is to end any chance of destroying it in the future. People there will have to resist Vader as much as possible until Kenobi, you, and your padawan get there. This is the only path with a real chance of survival at its end." Mon set the period in the conversation, his master's anger being harshly contained by a face that exhibited more disgust than anything else. Perturbed with the plan, with Mon's choices.

"You're killing those children, senator..." Ahsoka whispered, the room cooling immediately. The Chandrilla senator, however, did not back down and continued talking and, through all of this experience, Luke saw himself with a new fear of politics.

"My decision will save many in exchange for a few. Now, the orders: you and your padawan—"

"Luke mustn't go," Ahsoka said firmly, the padawan eyes widening. Bail seemed to contest this, but suddenly something corroded the Force around the Aldeeran senator and he prevented himself from speaking subsequently. The Force transmitted a quick blurry image, but Luke paid no attention to it, focusing on his master.

"Why not?"

"You know very well, Luke." He was about to speak, but Ahsoka raised a hand and spoke sharply. "You're too young and too raw still to face someone like Vader. His mere presence will mess with your head and, forgive me, but I do not trust you to think straight before the ideals and words of that man. You'll stay here, waiting for me and training. Do you understand?" She was tough, and even with the Force transmitting the sadness born of the intense truth, Luke still felt her anger below the surface.

He remained silent and tightened his fist mentally, wanting to speak against her words... And that's what he did.

"I want to go, no, I have to!"

"Luke, I'm your Master and you'll listen to me now..."

"B-But... I have to meet him! If we meet, I can try and talk to him—"

"Talk to him would be your demise. Luke, I'm not going to repeat myself, it's a no.

"Master, please, I need to talk to him! He is my—"

Before he could say anything else, Ahsoka squeezed his arm and made him knock his teeth out of surprise. Forcing him to bow before the Senators, one suspicious and the other not facing him entirely, she murmured 'we're going, re pass me the orders through comm' and left the room as soon as possible, dragging Luke all the way.

There was a prolonged silence where only their footsteps echoed in the hall. Far enough away and with no one around, Ahsoka let out;

"Do you realize what you almost brought to you and me?!"

"What do you mean?.." Luke didn't understand, frowning.

"Think, Skyson; two senators from the Old Republic find out that 'that man's' son is in the Rebellion. First, you become a propaganda boy— not even his son stands by the Empire —Vader, no, worse, the Emperor finds out and they start coming in mass, not after you, but after me. And they will kill me. I can run away and fight but, eventually, I will die. But you will no longer be with me, you will be with Master Yoda, extremely powerful in the Force, but life on the planet he chose to escape after the fall of the Republic destroyed his vigor and body. You will have no proper training, you will be without directions and susceptible to the dark side of the Force. If you had said that word, you could've doomed all of us!" She spoke with speed and controlled fury, frowning and a note of disgust as they went to the Hangar.

Luke swallowed dry, listening carefully and trying to assimilate all the things that came from her mouth. At least he understood the general idea; it would've been a bad move.

"Sorry, master..." He bowed his head in a demonstration of shame, Ahsoka's face softening as she released his arm.

"The time will come, Luke. It's just not now." She waited for him to raise his head to keep talking, her hand caressing his hair with a rare smile. "What you need now is training. Revise at what I taught you, meditate, and strengthen your willpower. All this will be necessary when the time comes." With these final words, they resumed walking, not taking long to get to the hangar.

Again this 'when the time comes'... She spoke the same earlier and yet he couldn't decipher exactly what she meant by it— clearly it wasn't killing his father, he felt sick just to think of something like that. Jedi doesn't kill, they bring peace and serenity for persons... Sure enough a Jedi, hopefully, him, can make his father a better person if he ever meets him personally. He has faith in him.

“To have faith in him… I can’t decide if you are too naive or good.” She smirked and hide a bit of sadness in the Force.

“I prefer good.” He tried to play.

“Then you’re too good for your own sake, Skyson.”

“Hey!”

“What, it’s a compliment.”

“Didn’t look like it.”

“Looked like what, then?”

“You were making fun of me, kinda. I guess.”

“Hm… Maybe not so naive as I thought initially.”

“But, I really do have faith in him.” Ahsoka’s smile withered a little. “I know that I shouldn’t, but I always wonder what took him to do what he did, to not trust the Jedi… I can’t kill the feeling that he needed a… a friend more than anything during that time.” Now her smile died completely. They remained silent for a time long enough to make Luke reconsider if saying all this was a good idea, but Ahsoka spoke first;

“Yes, maybe you’re right…” She looked at her hand for a moment and included a bit more as a last hour thought. “But what is done is done. We’ve to live with the consequences as well as fight for a future worthy of the next generation of Jedi.”

“Do you think we can resurrect Jedi Order, master?”

“I don’t think, I know we can. And you, Luke, when the time comes… You’re going to be pivotal on its return to the galaxy.” He didn’t respond immediately, the weight of these words hard to understand. As they approached her ship and the ramp lowered itself automatically, he managed to put out;

“Yes… my master.”

“Good…” She looked down, smiled, and looked again at him. “Good. I'll be back eventually. May the Force be with you, Skyson."

"And with you too, master."

Given the farewells, Ahsoka closed the ramp and, seconds later, the padawan was watching his master's ship crossing the clouds and disappearing from view, her signature of the Force further and further away until, finally, she entered hyperspace, just a hint of her existence pumping through their new-born bond.

Yet, for Ahsoka, that was the moment when she firmly grabbed the hyperspace lever, far enough away from her padawan so that he wouldn't feel the grueling emotions inside her bursting. She hates doing this kind of thing with Luke, she hates... treating him as a chosen one, the 'only hope' and resting on him the burden of killing his own father for the sake of bringing back the Republic and the Jedi.

In a twisted way, it's the same as the Jedi did with Anakin in the past. And the results appear daily in her nightmares.

But this has to be done. The only difference is that she is making sure that everything goes right. She'd never be like the Jedi, never...

Nobody managed to kill Vader when he had all his limbs made of metal and locked inside a life support suit, screaming pain in every move... Even more Anakin Skywalker in a state where he is more powerful than during his peak at the Clone Wars.

The only way to kill a threat like this is by using Luke.

A bitter taste came in her mouth when she repeated the word 'using' in her mind. She hated everything, everything about this situation. She’s no Jedi, she herself said so... And yet, for a galaxy with some kind of future that is not complete domination in Sidious’s hands: It has to be done.

The thought made her really tired.

* * *

Ganarth is everything she expected from a planet not only on the Outer Rim but as Huttese space. The Force was turbid as if something prevented her from feeling exactly the nature of the planet itself, probably due to the intense depletion of life. The planet was moss-green and with many clouds spreading on its surface, swampy and murky and stinky and kriffing gross...

She snorted and sank on the co-pilot's chair, waiting for Cal to land.

Speaking of the redhead, something has left him, well... agitated. The Force was giving small clues and, if she pays close attention, Cal was actively hiding his emotions with thick mind shields. As a politician, all this screamed that whatever is happening is really serious. They carefully navigated a few minutes ago through the dense clouds of radioactive gas that was hiding Ganarth from common hyperspace routes, and his concern continued, so it wasn't that...

What is it then?

She decided to ask them when they had some free time— preferably before the conversation about how she wanted to be with Vader.

"We're landing, hold on tight!" He warned her and when they crossed the layers closer to the surface, she understood why. The rugged terrain was a horrible contrast to the swampland exhaling disgusting and potentially lethal gases. Leia released a 'tsk' and crossed her arms when it was confirmed that yes, she is not wrong, this is another one of those mediocre and disgusting, uncolonized planets of the damned Outer Rim. "Wow, where does so much hate come from? It's just a planet." Cal questioned with a slight laugh when he felt the princess' uncensored prejudice.

"It's not just a planet, It's an awful planet! Nothing good grows here."

"Well, here's where I disagree with you." He laughed softly, BD speaking 'bep-bop' and, a moment later, a hologram appeared from the little droid's eye in front of the Jedi master, an instantaneous smile on his lips. "Brand, it's good to see that you're keeping things up!"

Leia observed with some curiosity the hologram of the... person. A floating metal ball with a jet pack and the only organic thing being its face, human and possibly male. It took her another moment to assimilate what Cal had said, shocked by the joke with the man's terrible condition. She was a Sith in training, but even she has her limits!

"Your humor remains the same as ever..." The machine man said, rolling his eyes with what sounded like joy or entertainment, those same eyes landing on Leia a moment later. "I see that your mission was a striking success. Pleasure, Leia Organa, I am Empatojayos Brand, former Jedi Master, and leader of the academy."

Academy?... Leaving this to the 'to-think list', she lifted her best political face and introduced herself.

"I see. Yet, Leia... Leia Organa, from Aldeeran. It is a pleasure, Master Jedi".

"The pleasure is all mine." Taking his eyes off her and turning to Cal, he spoke in a slightly more serious tone— it was kind of hard to understand the tone with a vocoder on the way —"Cal, bring her to our underground fortress as swift as possible. We need to keep her and the others safe the soon the better...

"I'll be there in five minutes, Cal out."

The redhead increased the speed of the ship as he trusted the Force to guide him through the green haze and the hideous and uneven terrain. Leia herself moved uncomfortably on her seat with the last part of the conversation of the two Jedi. What others? A chill ran down her spine with the next thought about what they were 'keeping her safe'. She imagined everything but what the Force said was obvious: Vader was coming to get her from them.

Any sane person would say that this is bad, yet...

She saw an opportunity on this.

Supposing Kenobi managed to contact the Rebellion, it means that Vader let him live— he fulfilled his part of the bargain; she couldn't help but feel very proud of this achievement. She managed to make Darth Vader spare a Jedi —now there's this Brand and Cal Kestis, both Jedi... If she could make them believe her, believe that Vader might have changed and make the Sith Lord have a meeting with both Masters...

A simple meeting to clarify things and, with dumb luck, set terms between them can change the whole fate of the Galaxy!

Not only can she bring Vader a little more to her side, but she may also have one of the best allies possible when the time comes for her to reveal that she does not fully support the dreamed Republic that the Rebellion seeks. It would be to kill two womps with one shot.

However, she has to step carefully. Cal clearly hates Vader for everything he took away from him and this Brand is totally obscure to her. One wrong move, something out of place or a wrong timing and she can cause more damage than Vader himself.

But she is confident in her abilities as a politician, especially as an avid democrat. If she can make Darth Vader spare a Jedi, why couldn't she do it again?

Suddenly, the ship pulled forward whilst slowing down, Cal taking off his seat belt and getting up with CD on his shoulder— she didn't even notice the arrival...

"Come on, I imagine our time is running dry." The rush in his voice confirmed what she already knew. She fixed her hair for a minute, got up, adjusted her skirt, checked her belt, cleaned a bit of dust that clung to her robes, and then she went with the Jedi growing impatience, a look of 'seriously?' in his face. She ignored him and looking out of the exit ramp... Being totally disgusted the moment she saw the mud ocean outside. Cal went and, gingerly, sank everything up to his knees in the mud, moving with due care. He looked confused back when he saw that Leia wasn't following him.

"What happened?"

"Kriffing no that I'll ruin my pants, boots, and skirt on this bantha poodoo swamp! No way!" She screamed, pointing to the mud. Cal frowned and looked at her with disbelief. "What?! I have standards, you know?! And these clothes are kriffing expensive too!"

"For the love of the Force... Look, we have to get to that tree..." He pointed further ahead to an unsuspected dead tree was sticking out of the deep mud.

"No, no, no! Can you get me up with the Force?"

"I could try, but if I lost concentration you'll going to face dive in this. You're strong in the Force and demands concentration to use any kind of Force technique on you... Also, you're heavy too." He barely hid his smile.

Leia frowned her eyes perilously but didn't comment. With a righteous fury, she entered Mantis a little more and looked around, a wicked smile on her lips as she disappeared into the living room, he guesses.

"Huh, this side of her is surprising for you too?"

"Uh..." BD beeped slowly, agreeing.

"Leia, can you go a little faster, please?" He shouted, waiting for some answer. "We're kind of in a hurry here and-WHAT THE KRIFF!!" Before he could complete his sentence, his living room couch came flying out the door with the Force, falling in front of him with a wave of mud that flew all over his Jedi's clothes. Leia used the Force to jump right after and held the couch floating in the sea of mud again with the Force.

They looked at each other for a moment.

"My couch!"

"A small price to pay for thinking I was going to sink half my body into this disgusting mud, humpf!" She crossed her arms and raised her nose, ignoring the unbelieving sigh of the Jedi master. Swallowing this new uncanny development, the master walked to the dead tree mentioned earlier, Leia following him with her boat-sofa. Connecting with the Force and clearing his mind, the Master Jedi touched the trunk and remained silent for almost a full minute, Leia taking the opportunity to 'appreciate' the landscape and increase her reserves of hate. Perhaps some planets deserve to receive the Death Star treatment after all...

Her thoughts were cut off short when the ground shook strongly, almost knocking her out of the sofa into the ocean of mud that began to open when four metal gates started to spread, the mud flowing inside the hole that would fit the entrance of a good-sized shuttle. Cal sighed strongly and pulled his hands away from the stump, passing them on the vest to remove the disgusting dust from his fingers.

"Don't even think about touching me before you wash your hands." She demanded the moment she noticed them.

"Right, right, don't worry, princess." He lengthened the 'princess' to sound like an insult, Leia's eyes sharpening with it. Cal noticed and, faster than she, spoke. "Now, to the Mantis!" Walking as fast as an ocean of mud allowed him, Cal returned to the ship with Leia behind him, the couch sinking when as she landed on the ramp— a good distance between her and the Jedi master.

Leia stayed as far away from Cal as possible as he flew the Mantis into the newly opened hole, the darkness lasting only a few meters as they descended, the abundant lights of a full-fledged hangar crowded with people. She also understood why the planet felt strange in the Force; there was a strong layer of the Force hiding hundreds of presences below ground, covering what she thinks is an entire facility.

As they landed, she saw a few other ships and a surprising light freighter in the distance; people dressed in Rebellion uniforms going and coming from one side to the other in extreme haste, opening space and carrying weapons, ammunition, and grenades; droids mounting automatic turrets and barricades and, as soon as they came down the ramp again, Brand was waiting for them floating... His body was even more bizarre in real life, more machine than man. Still, the Force running through him is undoubtedly powerful... Even if minimized, almost suppressed.

For no reason, Vader passed in her mind.

"Leia, Cal." He floated forward, greeting them with his robotic voice. "I'm glad you've arrived safely."

"Not much— the little lady here almost had a cardiac arrest minutes ago."

"Hey!"

"Really, mud? Are you afraid of mud?"

"Disgusted, not afraid."

Brand raised a nonexistent eyebrow while looking from the redhead with arms crossed and with a strange smile in his mouth to Leia, anger visible for far away.

"She reminds me of someone." Brand commented, drawing their attention. "But this is not the topic of conversation we need to focus on, we've to go to the safe room."

Together, the three walked to one of the nearest doors— walked in quotes, because Brand floated, —Leia had her heart pounding in her chest while she used most of her political skills to imagine a plan of facing the situation. How would she bring Vader to the surface? How would she mold their opinions to be more favorable to diplomacy and not to fighting, as they expect this so clearly? And what about Vader, would he hear her again?... Her head hurt with hundreds of scenarios and possible attacks, some incessant thoughts of the 'conversation' with Bail hurting her capacity of thinking straight.

"Geez, calm down there, princess. There's no mud in sight for you to be this stressed out."

"I won't be giving you the benefit of a response, you womp."

"Beep!" BD seemed to mock Cal who appearing everything but affected, just smiled and rose an eyebrow. Leia just rolled her eyes and moved to look at Brand, finally something coming to her mind; information. Seek information before a plan. Probably would help her concentrate too.

"How long until Vader gets here?"

Brand stared at her for a moment and then Cal, who shrugged his shoulders.

"Hours. Few of them—"

He was going to keep talking, but a man who was walking in the corridors, clearly looking for someone, stopped him;

"Master Brand, we have a problem." The man started and Leia did not take long to notice the lightsaber on his belt and the brown robes, so similar to those of Kenobi and, of course, his presence in the Force. It was nothing like Kenobi's or Cal's, much less Vader's. It looked like a small flame that sparkled weakly but existing whatsoever. Leia stared at fervently as he had three head, the two Jedi Master listening to him. "One of the children had a nightmare and is very agitated. None of the other knights or padawan could calm her down— she wants you there."

Padawans, knights… Children.

…

The protective layer of the Force wasn't just to protect the people here. If she was understanding well what was happening here... This place is some kind of Jedi Temple. Hatred burned inside of her, but she hid it the best she could.

Brand took a slight sigh before turning to Leia and Cal, an apologetic look in his eyes.

"Cal, would you take her to the safe room? I'll come in..."

"I'd like to see the children." She punched herself mentally for speaking so quickly and with such conviction, all three Jedi resting their eyes on her. The other Jedi just seemed to notice her, a face appearing on her face, a bit surprised as he frowned. With the silence growing more and more, she explained herself. "Well... I never saw another child sensitive to the Force. It'd be a first for me..."

The silence didn't last when Brand 'nodded' with understanding— he hadn't a neck, so it was more a guess than anything—, turning to the Jedi with the droid on his shoulder.

"Are you coming?"

"Of course I am. Have you forgotten that children are my specialty?" He played with a mischievous smile on his face, looking much more like a young man than an old Jedi master.

"Lind-a Tai wouldn't agree." The Jedi commented.

"It's not my fault she asked me to tell any story for her to sleep— any, keyword, none in particular." They started to walk along with the other Jedi towards these children, Leia using the time to arrange her thoughts. It wasn't fortuitous as she saw herself over and over during her holo call with Bail. Kicking herself mentally for being so kriffing out of focus because of this, she moved to a surface walking meditation, seeking any possible focus to help her.

"Still, what did you imagine was going to happen when you told the story of the 'Little red riding Jedi and the Evil Rancor'? On top of that, the uncensored version?"

Cal rolled his eyes, the Force giving clues to the shame he felt inside, making Leia laugh in the slightest.

"Laugh, princess. I bet the children will love my next story; the classic tale of the 'Jedi Princess who feared mud'." He smirked as the brown-haired girl snorted, the conversation dying when they arrived at a specific door where two Jedi, a smaller human, and a yellow zabrak, kept guard with annoyed faces— probably because of the loud crying coming from the other side of the door.

"Finally, I thought I'd go crazy..." The zabrak said, placing a sequence on the control panel and thus opening the metal door.

On the other side, the nursery was much more different from the rest of the Rebel Base. Pastel colors painted the walls, yellow, blue, and green, as well as brown. Lamps made the lighting stupidly strong and toys spread across the room, as well as sofas and large soft cushions for the children. Some cribs were in a more secluded area in the far west of the room, two women with masks looking after the Force sensitivity babies. The attention, however, remained on a girl no more than six years old, crying hard and surrounded by other children trying to calm her down, Leia counting 7 children in all. A block of dense ice obstructed her throat as she tried to contain her rage.

The rage, however, settled as she remembered Cal's words about being a Force Sensitive in the galaxy nowadays... But, she is still angry that they were training those kids at such young ages.

"Children, may I know what happened here?" Master Brand drew her attention and before Leia could understand, the crying child came running towards him— almost stumbling —and crushed him in a tight hug, dirtying the metal with tears.

"Master... Master Brand— I... I saw... yellow, blue... but they weren't nice, they were evil! And there were screams, lots of screams! Someone lost an arm, so much anger! I'm scared, Master!"

Cal sighed pitifully as he put a hand on the shoulder of the girl with blond hair and pale skin.

"It was just a nightmare, Vult. We're safe of all the bad stuff here."

"B-But... what if something happens, master?"

"We're Jedi— if something does happen, we adults will fight and protect you, children." He said in a sweet voice, looking with confidence into the girl's eyes. "Now, I imagine you want to meet someone; this is Leia Organa, a princess."

The little girl looked surprised, looking at the brown-haired one with big, shiny eyes. The one other little girl from the group of seven looked amazed too.

"A princess..."

"So cool!"

Leia was lucky to be a politician, or she would have stuttered right here.

"Yes, I'm next in line to lead a beautiful planet, Aldeeran." She commented with her best smile, her heart-melting when she saw the girls' smiles, which only seemed to grow when one of them pointed to the twin sabers on Leia's waist.

"Are you a Jedi too?"

"Well..." She wanted to sweeten for the girl and say yes, she was a Jedi. Simply to arrive saying that she was a Sith in training in the tutelage of Darth Vader would not be her smartest political move. But lying can lead to an impasse when it comes to telling the truth about Vader and his training. "I think I'm on the path to it, you know?" A middle ground, then.

"Wow! And I can see them? I always wanted a yellow lightsaber, what color is yours?! Show them, please?!" She was practically begging, draining Leia's smile. She couldn't show the red lightsabers, or could she? She is not sure if everyone here in this base knows that Vader captured her almost a month ago... Cal noticed this deadlock and went in to help her.

"Those sabers aren't working well, right? The crystal is a step away from exploding! We'll take them for repair later, so Leia will show you the beautiful color, erm... White of her sabers."

"White?! How cool!"

"Explode?..."

"That's right! Now, pardon me, but we have important things to take care of, children. May the Force be with you, little ones." In a choir, all the children responded the same as all the adults left, the door closing behind them and the problem resolved. Leia sighed, the tension coming out of her body after this last question. Cal gave her a friendly slap on the back... And Leia felt something strange.

"You owe me one for saving you back there!"

Leia took her hands to her back and felt that strange thing. Dense, disgusting, slimy... For very, very little she didn't hang Cal with her own hands now, a furious look in his direction.

"You disgrace, damn kriffing laser brain! This is one of my favorite shirts!" She screamed, angry. Cal seemed genuinely surprised and even tried to dismiss the situation as a mistake, stammering until BD slapped him to stop the babbling. Releasing a snitch and turning to Brand, she asked. "Where is a bathroom for me to take a bath?"

"Oh, don't worry, we'll arrange a change of clothes for you. Follow me, then." The Jedi that informed Brand earlier of the children volunteered to help her.

"Thank you."

"We are going to be in the safe room waiting for you, Leia Organa." Brand said and pointed to the Jedi. "If you need anything more, just ask Fran Cisn here and he'll be able to help you."

"Sure, sure..." She said kinda in a hurry, trembling to get these clothes off before she starts to smell like Outer Rim.

"Uh... Sorry about that, okay? Didn't mean to..."

"A small price to pay for kriffing up your sofa. Now, let me take a kriffing bath!" And, with the startled Jedi guiding her, she went to have a much necessary shower.

Within a few minutes, Leia took both lightsabers off her belt and her dirty clothes, taking a bath in the private bathroom of an empty room in the facility and removing from her body all the disgusting snot that had accumulated on her skin because of this cursed planet. The change of clothes was left by one of the nurses on top of the sink and, honestly, they were not her kind of clothes. A brown cape, light long sleeve shirt and dark brown pants, boots that a land soldier would wear... Was it strange that she missed the constant black in her clothes? It was elegant and really comfortable, not those... She looked much less like royalty.

She took a moment to look at herself in the mirror, fixing her hair enough to not look messy and just a tad more presentable. While doing that, she tried once more to focus and connect with the Force to concentrate and maintain the horrible memories at bay... Unsuccessful to a point of frustration. Why couldn't she do that now?! She trains so kriffing hard every day to be able to sustain the weight of her new life, so why this mere... Rant with her adoptive father strikes her so goddamn much?!

Quickly cleaning the tears that were accumulating in her eyes, she prepared to leave the bathroom.

Distracted, she rolled the clothes in a ball, threw them in the laundry basket, and left, finding the Jedi from earlier standing guard at the bedroom door.

"Your Highness, do you need anything?" The human boy asked, bowing his head in respect.

"No, just take me to Brand. And you don't need to call me 'Your Highness'." She murmured moodily.

"I'm from Aldeeran, so I think I've to... Your Highness." He trembled with the look she gave him, but Leia's head was so heavy with thoughts that she didn't even care to correct him. "This way, please."

And, next to the boy she didn't mind asking his name, she went to do something she hasn't done for some time: political negotiations. Even more, she went unprepared.

* * *

After mere minutes of walking, they arrived at a door with a tall Jedi guarding it, waving to the boy who was leading Leia.

"This is it, Your Highness. I must return to my work now, may the Force be with you." He then faced the Jedi guarding the door. "And with you too, Co Dix."

"With you too..." she nodded and watched him leave for a moment before, taking a deep breath, turning to the door— which the Jedi guard opened after saying the same motto to the other Jedi —and entered without waiting a beat. Inside, Cal and Brand were talking about something, turning their attention to Leia when she appeared. "Gentlemen, have I lost something?" At least her political face was prepared and in its best... She guesses.

"Nothing much. We were waiting for you anyway, not like it's an urgency." Cal was too honest, a product of the haste he transmitted through the Force.

"Now that we're all here, I should ask you first: Would you like to ask some questions, Miss Organa? I felt traces of concern in you." Leia observed Brand as she walked to one of the chairs in the small room, not well-illuminated room. From the large holo-projector in the center of the room and the image of what she assumed to be Ganarth planet, she imagined that here was the War Room.

"Master Brand, I need clarification on... all this." She opened her hands and moved them around, meaning the whole base. "How did you manage to gather so many Jedi and force-sensitive children under the nose of the Empire?"

The room took a comfortable silence as the man organized his words.

"It wasn't easy, nothing is for a Jedi in a galaxy like this. After a long time running following Order 66, I found myself here in Ganarth after being knocked down by **him**." The tone he used made it clear that he was talking about Vader. "The planet is hidden by a cloud of radioactive gases and has a strange connection with the Force so, when I found a Force-sensitive child in one of the slave trade markets here, I decided to start training them. In time I joined the Rebellion and other surviving Jedi and secretly created this enclave with my friend Cal Kestis. You must have noticed the powerful barrage of the Force that hides people's Force signatures here, right?"

She nodded positively, absorbing everything.

"This is a creation of mine that I've been refining daily for the last 8 whole years. It hides the signatures completely to a certain extent— if the user is more powerful than I am and enters without suppressing their signature, they're capable of destroying the barrier without even knowing."

"You must be a very powerful Jedi, I see".

"Powerful? Hm, not the way you imagine it, but I appreciate the compliment".

Leia faced Cal in some confusion when listening to this strangely specific phrase, the master scratching his beard before responding without much certainty;

"Master Brand lost much of his power in the Force when his body was destroyed. His power comes from his faith and intensive mental training... Something like that".

"Impressive, indeed. Still, I have been hearing this term continuously: Order 66. What is it, exactly?" She asked in an attempt to satiate such a question from day one she connected with the Force.

As she expected, the atmosphere surrounding the room changed instantly. Cal crossed his arms, BD looked between the three humans and shrank a little, Brand staring at her intensely.

Leia immediately regretted, trained in proper reading answers to her questions, but remained quiet and waited for an answer, her curiosity of the matter overwhelming any other feeling. It took about ten seconds for Brand to start talking.

"The Order 66... I don't think I need to explain that the Jedi were decimated at the end of the Clone Wars, right?" She nodded positively, already having that common knowledge. "Still, what is never told is how it happened and the two tangents that made it all possible: The clones themselves and… Darth Vader. The Jedi discovered on May 19 of the Standard Calendar that Sheev Palpatine, Supreme Chancellor then, was the Sith Lord by an anonymous source inside the Jedi Temple of Coruscant. Mace Windu, the Master of the Order and three other Jedi—" He was cut off by a soft knock on the door.

"I'll go, continue the story." Brand hummed a positive noise as Cal got up and went to answer whoever was at the door.

"—continuing. The four Jedi Masters broke into the Supreme Chancellor's office to arrest him for illegal Sith practices. They all died... but not all at the Chancellor's hand. Anakin Skywalker broke into the office a few minutes later and killed Mace Windu, thus saving the Chancellor and then vowing to become his apprentice, Darth Vader. With this, an Order was given to the Clones by the Chancellor, Order 66, where the clones— without questioning —would turn against the Jedi and kill them on sight. Our own army against us, in the middle of an endless battle... Vader took one of the Elite platoons to the Temple and executed everyone inside in cold blood, even the children."

Leia... kept herself in deep silence, eyes open and frowning as she faced Brand. Her lungs breathed with difficulty while she understood the information that was given to her.

The Republic Army of over 5 million clones... turned against their generals and commanders simultaneously.

A powerful Sith invaded the central Jedi base in a surprise attack and killed everyone inside... Even the children.

She could practically feel the betrayal, pain, and anger in every word that formed in her mind, her chest weighing a ton with all the new information. The Force turned with tension inside her and, not completely, she held the dark side with her current weak control. First, she could've guessed that Sith practices were against the law of the Republic, which is really strange given the law that prohibits peoples' having their rights to practice their respective religions denied.

However, what struck her hard was to know that Vader killed children, even more, that she didn't fully blame him. It's horrible to admit, but the Rebellion does bombard Imperial Cities from time to time. It's a war tactic and on very specific targets, but she'd a hypocrite to not admit that everyone is caught in these attacks; men, women, and children alike... But how did he do that? She needs to know from him. She needs to know if the man who coldhearted killed children was the same one who trained her in every aspect of the Force, or was the man that she still saw in her nightmares from time to time, full of hatred and betrayal.

Oh, Force... Her head was in so much pain. Things can't turn worse than now, she won't be able to hold herself together if they do.

Having to hold her sore head, Leia understood that she had to think and meditate. A lot. A lot to assimilate and understand her place on all these happenings. Because, in front of those pieces of information, how could she cast a good light on Vader and beg for an alliance— even a cease-fire while we fight against common enemies, —between him and the Jedi? It'd be sure a harsh quest... But she promised she wouldn't give up on him.

She... Has faith in him.

Taking a deep breath, coughing lightly, and settling herself in the chair as prepared for a long, long speech, Brand's eyes argumentative under her. Determined but insecure of herself and with her heart beating hard, Leia started talking;

Just so that a sudden shower of darkness loomed over her. **She felt a great danger.**

* * *

"What is it? There is an important meeting happening here." Cal walked out the door and closed it right away, eyes stuck on the smaller Jedi in front of him. Phan Ake, one of the eight padawans of the Academy today. The Twi'lek shuddered slightly at the harsh tone of the Jedi Master, stammering a little and holding one of her lekku.

"P-Pardon me, master! One of the maids found t-these lightsabers in the princess' clothing basin". The rusty-haired one just noticed Leia's black twin sabers in the Twi'lek's right hand, a calm breath before smiling at the padawan.

"Thank you for bringing it to attention. She's inside, let me give it back to her—" However, the moment he grabbed the two lightsabers, his legs became weak and he fell on his knees, scaring the padawan.

Cal didn't hear her calling his name, much less the Jedi guard trying to hold him still where he was.

All Cal felt was the Force spinning around him while images ran through his head, bloody and painful echoes screaming from those twin lightsabers that used to be one.

He saw the first bearer of this weapon... A young girl, beautiful green eyes and long, light brown hair, mocha skin, and a smile that didn't even need the Force Signature for him to recognize: Mira Caram, his padawan who disappeared on that fateful day he broke into his house.

He saw what she did with these lightsabers, he saw who she killed, the anger that was accumulating in their use, the growing pain and hatred of the world around her and, mainly, herself...

And then, he saw Darth Vader. She was fighting bravely against Vader, white fury dripping from her for everything he took from her: her home twice, her family twice— everything... twice.

... Then, a red blade cut her arm and she faced shocked who was there...

Leia Organa, a red saber in her hands. Protecting Darth Vader from death.

Life was extinguished from his ex-padawan the next moment.

Now he saw Leia and Vader. The exchanges of blows, the training they had, and, especially, his words: daughter of mine...

She was Vader's daughter... And he could feel Vader's happiness when training his daughter. How could he be this happy when he destroyed everything that he loves and cares about?! And she...

She killed his padawan, his last family.

When the vision ended and the real world came back with a buzz in his ears, the Jedi couldn't stand all the images in his head and vomited on the ground. He has seen much death in his whole life, but the slow death of his own apprentice as she descends deeper and deeper into the dark side, dying by the hands of a woman that isn't 10 meters from him now? A person he helped when she had problems with her family, one that she was starting to trust and like... This turned his mind upside down and brought down his whole body... While the images were constantly repeating themselves, each and every emotion inside the Jedi Master was condensed into a single massive ball. All his memories, everything that was taken from him, everything he cried and suffered for, everything his apprentice had to go through...

All because of Vader and now... his daughter.

**He felt rage.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything getting in their places for the finale of the arc!  
> The Rebellion is really worried about what an attack to this specific base will bring over them, so they're prioritizing the long term. Ahsoka doesn't deal nicely with this, of course.  
> Luke is struggling with his duties as a growing Jedi as no one shares the faith he cultivates so dearly and a heart too big for his own sake. Maybe a misplaced faith, maybe not.  
> Ahsoka too has her issues with the omission of truth and her own internal problems. She knows what the dark side does with the best of the Jedi, so she has to do everything in her capacity to maintain her padawan away from it, even if it hurts him in the process... but these wounds are not closing. If they accumulate, what the results might be?  
> Leia still hates Outer Rim planets and is so clear with her prejudice that it is even is becoming part of her being without her noticing. The dark side is insidious...  
> But, a small Jedi Enclave, hid under the nose of the Empire!! With about 40 Jedi, 17 knights, 8 padawans, 2 masters, 13 kids, and 150 Rebellion members, they are preparing for a direct attack coming from Vader, how will be their faces when the old Hero with no fear comes swinging by?  
> Cal has a powerful ability to see Force Echoes, but what he sees is not something he likes. He feels betrayed and lost, knowing that his padawan was still out there not much time ago, suffering and in need of help, but died in the hands of a person he trusted his lifestory, this same person being the daughter of the man who took everything from him.  
> "Oh yes, it's all coming together."  
> Hope to see you next time! Thank u for your time!

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my native language, but my native country really doesn't like Star Wars. So, as they say; "No proofreading we die like men"


End file.
